


Black Silk

by GoldieClaws



Series: Selfship Fiction - Black Silk universe [1]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Original Character(s), Original Demigirl Character - Freeform, Original Non-Binary Character - Freeform, Slow Burn, Swearing, They/Them Pronouns for Zer0 (Borderlands), Trans Rhys (Borderlands), extra tags and characters will be added in time jsyk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:59:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25188310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldieClaws/pseuds/GoldieClaws
Summary: After the destruction of Helios and finally defeating Handsome Jack, Rhys is now left to fend for himself after his supposed friends seemingly abandoned him. With nowhere else to go, he decides to travel back to the Atlas biodome, but how exactly he plans on getting there is another question.Thankfully for him, he is found by a bandit and her equally powerful pet skag, who offers to patch him up and take him to his destination. The two are quick to grow to enjoy one another’s company and Rhys can’t help but wonder that if, in time, their relationship would somehow develop more from that.
Relationships: Rhys (Borderlands)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Selfship Fiction - Black Silk universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953868
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first experience with Borderlands was Tales and it was only until recently that I got invested into the actual series because my friend ended up falling into the 'big love energy for Zane' club and in turn I got sucked in against my will lmao.  
> Rhys has always been my fav character from Tales in terms of selfshipping, so when I found that he was also in Borderlands 3, I thought I'd indulge in the idea of making an OC to ship him with. So in comes Emlyn, a lady who can wield rocket launchers one handed and is a pro with a sniper rifle, which my friend and I joked would make Rhys go immediate heart eyes because he can't say no to a woman with big muscles and bigger guns.  
> After a bit of brainstorming and many dumb conversations about how Rhys and Emlyn would interact with one another, the two of us ended up making a story for Rhys and Emlyn to meet, and as I had recently replayed Tales to remind myself about the plot, I thought I'd start the story in the universe of Tales before eventually moving to Borderlands 3. And, well, here we are.  
> I plan on splitting this bad boy into two parts, so I can take a mini break in-between and from writing in general, but most chapters are pre-written because I'm someone who takes my self ships very seriously lmao. I also will upload weekly to the best of my ability, so I can stagger updates a bit and not feel like I have to force myself to write like mad. If I have anything new to say I'll just put it in the notes of future chapters. If you'd like to read chapters early, you can check em out via my Twitter: (@)GoldieClaws.  
> Finally, and **BIG DISCLAIMER HOLY SHIT HOLD UP THERE STRANGER:** before you get too invested, please know that future chapters will have mention of Cancer (the illness, not the starsign lmao) so if that is something that upsets you, please proceed with caution. For now, it is not included in the trigger warnings because it isn't relevant until part two, so I've decided to put the warning here for now. When it is explicitly mentioned, I will of course put a warning in the notes and tags of that respective page for people to read.

With a soft groan, Rhys slowly felt himself regain consciousness, wincing as the pain of everything he’d been through quickly started to catch up with him. Every part of his body felt like he had been bashed against a wall repeatedly and the headache that accompanied him didn’t help. His throat still hurt from where Jack had attempted to strangle him, making his breathing shallow and weak.

He slowly brought himself to his feet, still shaken and drained from the blood loss he’d put himself through from ripping his right arm from its socket. Said arm still hung pathetically from the iron bar that had nearly speared him, making a shiver run down his spine now that he was able to look at it properly.

He was most definitely one of the lucky ones, however. Far more than even Helios itself.

With the world tilting slightly to the right as he tried to make sense of it through one eye, Rhys looked around so he could plan on what to do next. For all he knew, bandits would be appearing in droves, ready to steal as much loot as they could carry. And surely, Jack’s office would be the first to go.

Eventually, his gaze fell on the trophy case and the Atlas deed that hung there. The glass had shattered, but the deed itself was somehow miraculously undamaged despite the destruction around him.

With great care and in a drunken, dazed state, he slowly moved towards it, tripping over his own two feet and cursing to himself at his new lack of spatial awareness.

Leaning against the counter with his waist, Rhys reached forward and pulled the deed from its frame so he could examine it closely.

He didn’t know if his wooziness or previous conversation with Jack was to blame, but the idea of taking the deed for himself so he could actually _do_ something with it was incredibly tempting. What if he could start something new? Something to help others? He’d have to start small, of course, but how could he deny an opportunity to perhaps at least try to right _some_ past wrongs.

Rolling it up as tightly as he could, he slipped it into the inside pocket of his jacket to keep it safe.

Now, mourning the destruction of his old home would have to wait. Escaping the ruins before he was suddenly attacked from behind seemed like the far more logical option.

With a stubborn limp he knew would take days, maybe even weeks to heal from, he hobbled towards a gap in the rubble, aiming to crawl through until he could eventually see daylight. How he had any energy at all to keep moving, let alone even scratch a dent in the possible days long journey he was about to start to get back to the Atlas biodome, he didn’t know. Perhaps he was too drained to feel scared of being crushed by something coming loose, but if he’d learnt anything Pandora, it certainly lived off the mentality of ‘kill or be killed’.

On the opposite side of the ‘room’, Rhys caught sight of a possible exit. Unfortunately for him, the sheet of metal was stubborn and there was no way in high Heaven he’d be able to move it, let alone _budge it_ in his current state. He cursed angrily to himself as it started to cut into his palm and he quickly let go.

Maybe he’d just have to go all the way back to the lifepod if he had any hope of getting out of here.

But as he attempted to turn around and go back on himself, he saw it.

A skag.

A Badass ALPHA skag.

It may not have been the size of the one he’d accidentally killed during the group’s showdown at Bossanova’s race, but it was frighteningly obvious that this beast could devour him in a few short, quick gulps if it so wished.

Its eyes and small cracks in its skin glowed a sickly green, which stood out vibrantly against its dark hide. On its shoulders were a cluster of spines that pulsed softly at the roots with a green light in an eerie and almost hypnotic way. To his amazement, and undeniable horror, the bastard even had _horns._ Bull-like horns that could very, very easily skewer him in a matter of seconds if it noticed him.

Rhys watched as it slowly stepped further into the remains of the office, intrigued by the remains of his right arm. The wiring that had connected the arm to his body still had his blood all over it and he winced as the skag moved closer, terrified of the moment when it eventually caught his scent. He could only hope and pray that the fire and ash was enough of a cover, then it would just be a waiting game for the beast to leave.

However, it didn’t seem like this would be happening any time soon, as the puddle of blood that stained the wooden tiles had now caught its attention. It brought its face close and he could hear it sniffing loudly, making him bite his lower lip in terror. From where he was kneeling, Rhys was partially out of view but not enough to not be spotted. Yet, he dared not move in fear of causing debris to fall over and give away his position. The only thing separating the two was a solid metal beam, but even then, the muscles on the skag looked so strong it could probably tear through it to him like paper.

Presumably now uninterested in its discovery and with nothing to go on, the skag turned to leave and Rhys let out the breath he’d been holding in.

However, he didn’t anticipate the rush of adrenaline he’d received from seeing the skag to vanish so quickly or so suddenly.

His arm buckled beneath him as his vision blurred and he slammed headfirst into the rubble, smacking his face hard against a sharp piece of wood and sending a sharp jolt right through his skull as it connected with the remains of his cybernetic implants.

He whelped in pain at how much it stung, bringing him to tears near instantly.

Trying his damndest to ignore the pain, he heard the distinctive sound of sharp claws on metal slowly approaching.

Oh, how he _hated this!_ Not only had he caught the skag’s attention, he was now about to be devoured whilst in tears and at its mercy. No going out in a blazing glory with a handful of grenades and guns. Not even with his trusty stun baton.

But by being forced to watch as a hungry and vicious monster tore him to pieces like the pathetic Hyperion stooge he was.

He felt his whole body stiffen when the skag’s hot breath and gruff snorts greeted him, making him close his eyes as tightly as he could.

Of course, this was how he was destined to meet his end.

…

Yet.

Despite everything that clearly pointed to his demise, nothing happened.

There was no sensation of sharp fangs tearing through his flesh and shaking him to and fro like a ragdoll. No horrendous screams and bellows as the skag called in for reinforcements.

Just the sound and feeling of the skag bringing its face close to the torn and blooded stump that was his right arm. Then, it let out a pitiful whine.

_Wait, whine?_

_Was it… upset?_

Terrified of what he was about to see, Rhys dared himself to open his eyes.

Now up close and personal, the skag was much, MUCH bigger than he’d originally thought. Perhaps about the size of a horse. Claws as long as his arm were just mere inches away from his face, but surprisingly, did not seem to be poised to attack. It tilted its head back and forth as it examined the wound, then turned back to the robot arm behind it. Rhys could practically see the cogs turning in the beast’s head as it slowly moved to look down at him.

It brought its face close to his and out of instinct he shrunk back, trying to force himself away from it. In response, the skag lifted his head back up, still with its eyes on him, and moved back slightly.

Slowly, Rhys felt himself begin to feel oddly… _soothed_ by this action.

_Was this a trained skag? Domesticated maybe?_

_Could they even_ be _domesticated?_

Even if he wasn’t from Pandora, he certainly knew enough about his research and own experience from being on Pandora itself that skags were rabid, animalistic abominations that will always, _always_ go for the kill. Yet, this one seemed almost hesitant. Had he actually died and ended up in Heaven with a nicer ‘good boy’ skag?

The beast snorted loudly, then suddenly raised its head to the sky and shrieked. Rhys winced at the noise, which was surprisingly high pitched for such a large beast. It certainly didn’t help his headache either and made his ears ring.

Eventually, the skag stopped and looked back to the way it had come.

_Was it calling its pack? Was this actually how he was meant to go out?_

The two waited in quiet anticipation as Rhys caught the sound of the grinding of stone against metal, like something large was pushing it way through to them. He fully expected to see another giant skag come barrelling through towards him.

But instead, it was a person.

Whoever they were, their features were covered by a black cloak that also had a hood, framing their face completely in shadow. The rest of their clothing was made up of browns and blacks that Rhys assumed helped them blend into the world of Pandora. On their back was an enormous, heavy-looking _sword_ of all things that even Rhys knew he would struggle to lift, which only helped make this person’s muscular build all that more impressive.

“I heard ya buddy, don’t worry.” They said, taking in their surroundings.

 _Was this person using a voice modifier?_ Rhys thought as they drew closer. He couldn’t tell their gender from said voice or looks alone, but for some reason it made him think of Fiona with how deep said voice was.

The skag whined again, louder this time to get its owner’s attention.

“What?” They asked, having been distracted by Rhys’ remains, only to perk up when they caught sight of him still lying prone on the floor.

With a wide stride they moved to the skag’s side to have a closer look at Rhys but seemed to recoil when they caught sight of his outfit.

They made a clicking noise and the skag moved out of the way to let them past. Slowly, they got down on one knee so they could have a proper look at him and already Rhys was wishing the skag had stayed.

It wasn’t shadows that had hid the person’s face from view, but a grotesque and horrific-looking mask that gave them a monstrous and toothy appearance. On either side of the ‘mouth’ that consisted of a line of sharp teeth was a filter to help them breath, and Rhys could already feel himself start to shrink under the dead, staring gaze of the mask’s eyepieces, which somehow lacked any kind of reflective surface that he could at least pretend was somewhat natural.

“Hyperion, huh?” They said in a flat tone, sizing him up. “Guess my skag must have mistaken you for human.”

They spoke with an accent similar to Janey’s, maybe even slightly stronger than her own. Were they perhaps from Elpis?

Too shocked to say anything at such a sharp comment, Rhys could only weakly nod his head as the stranger leaned forward to examine him further.

“Y’know, normally I couldn’t give any less of a shit for an organisation like that, but-” they tilted their head, “I’d be the real asshole here if I just left you to the rakks, wouldn’t I? ‘Specially when you look like this.”

Standing up, they grabbed a hold of the metal beam that separated Rhys from them and lifted it up with surprising ease before carefully placing it back on the ground. Then, they stepped forward and in one swift motion, slipped both arms underneath him and picked him up. Out of instinct, Rhys tensed up and wrapped his arm around them. The skag let out a soft growl at this and fixed its gaze on him.

“You do realise I only picked you up. I’m not going to throw you.” Said the stranger, giving him a look.

“O-oh. Uh…” Rhys felt his face burn in embarrassment as he quickly unhooked himself from them and tried his best to relax in their arms.

Confident he wasn’t going to start struggling, the stranger turned around and proceeded back the way they’d come.

Whilst passing by his cybernetic arm, they whistled and Rhys watched as the skag grabbed a hold of it and tore it clean off the iron bar. Then, they laughed softly to themselves.

“I’d assume you’d want to keep that. Might have some important wires you can’t find easily here on Pandora.”

Rhys nodded, too tired to argue. If he could somehow convince them to take him to the Atlas biodome, he’d just dump it once they left. For all he knew, some part of Jack could be in the wiring, and he didn’t plan on taking any chances if he ended up reattaching it to his body.

With care, the stranger manoeuvred their way through the rubble, their skag acting as support each time the path proved too difficult to pass through with both hands occupied.

After an agonisingly long time of ducking and weaving past old supports, broken statues, and shattered glass, Rhys and his new companions were finally able to catch sight of the evening sky.

A large truck that looked like it had enough horsepower to lap the caravan ten times over was parked before the trio, the fading sun catching here and there on the vehicle’s shockingly clean body.

The skag trotted happily up the truck’s passenger doors and placed a paw on it, turning their head to look back at their owner. Rhys couldn’t deny that the sight of it enthusiastically wiggling its behind with his cybernetic flopping back-forth in its jaws was oddly amusing, in a very dark way.

At least it wasn’t his _actual_ arm, thank God.

Getting down on one knee, the stranger put Rhys down beside the truck, using one of its giant wheels as support.

“W-what are y-”

“Shh!” They said sharply, making Rhys go quiet. Then, they stood up. “You think I’m taking you anywhere looking like that? I’d like to at least try and clean that blood and ash off you. I don’t think you want to deal with an infection of some kind, not when you have… that.” They indicated to his right arm’s stump.

“Oh… OK…” How he was able to form any kind of word with how much his throat hurt was beyond him, so Rhys sat in silence and waited for the stranger to start tending to them.

They opened up the door the skag had been pawing at and it hopped in the moment the door opened. The stranger clicked their fingers and then pointed to something in the corner. Rhys heard the loud _CLANK!_ Of his cybernetic hitting the floor of the truck and shuffling as the skag moved to do as it was told. After a moment or two its giant head appeared again, holding a large green medical box.

“Thank you, Rigel.” The stranger said sweetly, patting the skag as it purred happily.

“R-rigel…?” Rhys asked.

“Yeah? That’s his name.” The stranger said, incredulous. “What kind of monster doesn’t name their skags?”

“It… sou-”

“Sounds like Nigel, yes I know I’ve heard that joke before.” They interrupted, putting the medical box next to Rhys and getting on their knees in front of him. “I was drunk, what can I say.” They said, then chuckled to themselves when they saw Rhys’ discomfort. “It’s fine, don’t look so worried. I still joke about it myself.”

Rhys licked his lips as they opened up the box and pulled out a number of various supplies: a water bottle, wipes, bandages, and tape. Then, they began to unhook their cloak from their shoulder and dropped it on the ground. Rhys blinked in surprise at the sudden wave of blonde hair that appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Was that cloak some kind of black hole? How on earth do you hide _that_ much hair? Especially when it reaches all the way down your back?

Then, they moved their attention to their mask, putting their hands behind their head.

“What are you… doing?” Rhys forced himself to say, feeling himself start to tense up again.

“Look, this mask has its uses for places like that,” they pointed over their shoulder to Helios, “but not when I have to play doctor. Plus I might need to get up close and personal.”

“Uh…”

Rhys fully anticipated some kind of character with a torn up, scarred face that would make him faint the moment that mask fell. Surely if this person could handle skags they would at least look, for want of a better word, pretty fucked up. After all, no sane man would want one of those death machines anywhere near them.

Rhys bit the inside of his cheek as the mask finally came loose and they threw it haphazardly on top of the cloak. Now happy all the unnecessary gear had been removed, they put their hands on their hips and looked at him.

Contrary to belief, the stranger wasn’t some kind of gruesome warlord who looked like they’d been shoved through a blender and escaped alive, if horrendously mutilated. But a woman about the same age as Rhys.

One side of her head was shaved short, revealing her original brown hair colour. Her eyes, weirdly enough, were purple and watched Rhys with a steady, calm gaze. Was she perhaps a Siren? There was no way he could properly tell unless she took her shirt off, but there was no way in _hell_ he could ask that without either being smacked or dying _from_ asking such an embarrassing request.

She was smiling somewhat smugly, clearly amused by how suddenly Rhys had started blushing now that he had a proper look at her. He could feel his eyes grow wide and he became slack-jawed, which only helped make her smile grow even wider.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never seen a buff woman before, buddy. Unless it’s not a ‘Hyperion standard’.”

 _Oh god. That was her_ natural _voice. And it fit her perfectly._

Rhys was about to say something when suddenly her smile dropped and her eyes grew wide, leaning forward and putting her hands on his shoulders. Immediately, he tried to move away, scared she was now mere seconds away from killing him, but she held him down fast. Gently, she caressed one side of his neck.

“Did someone strangle you?”

Rhys froze, his breath catching in his throat.

 _Uh oh._ he hadn’t even planned some kind of excuse to hide the truth.

“…Yes.” He said softly, which made the lady’s expression darken.

“Did you see who?”

Rhys paused, then shook his head. His best bet right now was playing dumb, so hopefully it could get him somewhere.

The lady’s eyes flicked over to his stump, then she tilted his head slightly to the right.

“You had a cybernetic eye as well, yeah?”

He nodded again, which made her growl softly to herself.

“Fuckin’ bandits. They really will take anything that isn’t nailed down.” She hissed. “Think they knocked you out for your parts?”

“Probably.”

“Hmm. No wonder they passed by on the arm. A damaged one wouldn’t sell for a lot, no matter the brand. I’m amazed they didn’t take you with them.”

“Guess I… didn’t seem that impressive.” Rhys said, only to start coughing when the pains and aches from the strangulation took hold. The lady held him upright as he got it all out, now feeling more shaken and tired than before.

“Looks like I better clean you up quick and take you back to my place.” She said when he stopped, grabbing the water bottle and a few wipes, covering the latter in a generous layer of water. Then, she started carefully cleaning Rhys’ face, making sure not to turn his head too sharply as she got to work.

Now with someone tending to him, Rhys was shocked at how much blood and grime he was covered in. God knows what he actually did look like in person.

The two sat there in silence as she continued, only happy once the last wipe was completely spotless.

“There we are!” she exclaimed, evidently pleased with her handiwork. Then she grabbed a hold of the bandages and began to unravel them. Once she was satisfied she had enough to work with, she began to wrap it over his chest so she could cover his right side. Once finished, she grabbed the tape, stuck down the bandage’s loose ends and then did the same to the left side of his face.

With a content smile, she stood up, put all her items back into their original places, picked up her cloak, mask, and medical box and threw them all back into the truck alongside Rigel. She then opened up the passenger door at the front of the vehicle and picked up Rhys once more, setting him down next to the driver’s seat.

“The drive might be a while so I hope you don’t mind me putting you in the front. I like having someone to talk to.”

“Well, actually...” Rhys started as she walked around the front of the truck and into the driver’s seat. “I was maybe… hoping you could take me somewhere.”

“Oh? Like where?”

“An Atlas station.”

She looked at him, confused.

“Of all places, why Atlas?”

“It has a lot of stuff I need.” Rhys tapped his eye. “Otherwise, I might be a bit useless to you.”

At that, she laughed loudly, making Rhys jump.

“Listen, if anyone gave you shit for being useless, you come to me. I’ve bent and broken many a spine in my lifetime.” She smiled proudly at him, which Rhys meekly returned.

“But-” She started, one hand on the truck’s wheel, “I won’t deny you definitely need some repairs that I can’t help you with. So, I guess we have to do as madam asks.”

“Uh, thanks?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My notes might be a little bit short on some chapters from here on out btw since I pretty much infodumped all over the first chapter's notes, unless I need to clarify something that I forgot to do so in the actual chapter itself :>  
> This time, Rhys gets roasted for having a surname like 'Strongfork' (which Emlyn and even myself will gleefully mock into the ground) and he gets a good look at her whilst trying his best to hide his heart eyes for her. Obviously, that goes about as well as you would expect from someone like Rhys lmao.  
> I also added in a tag for Trans Rhys because I don't want to be That Guy who treats his gender as a surprise with how open I am about Emlyn's own gender as a demi-girl, especially since I am, y'know, lmao. It gets acknowledged explicitly in part two so no, I'm not including it to show off lol so you can choke on _that_ movie industry. I have this thing about apparently never writing a main character who is Cis (or Straight for that matter aylmao) and you can be damn well sure none of my fictional others fall into that box. Trans or riot.  
> I'm also not someone who actively searches the tags for content. I tend to post my writing and leave after a few minutes of general browsing because I have weirdly specific needs with stories, so I didn't actually know there's a fair few Trans Rhys fics floating around. Glad to know we're all on the same page o/ (plus it does give me the confidence to add the tag in the first place ghdfjgd)  
>  **Major Character Death** has also been included, after I battled back and forth if I should even include it since late-June. For the longest time I viewed it as a tag for canon characters only, but then I realised how much an impact this death in question had, actively changing how one character ends up acting for the rest of the story. So with that part in mind, I decided to add it to this story. Apologies if it seems last minute! But I did genuinely feel it wasn't worth noting down because canon characters weren't the cause of the tagging.  
>  **As always, If you'd like to read chapters a week early before I post them, you can check em out via my Twitter: (@)GoldieClaws.**

The pair sat in silence as Rhys’ tall, impressive, and… admittedly quite beautiful saviour drove him to his destination. Not really knowing what the two could even talk about, Rhys looked out the window and watched as the Pandoran desert whizzed by at shocking speed.

_ How fast was she going, anyway? _ Rhys thought, feeling himself clutch the edge of his seat at each bump and rattle. Every now and then, he felt the lady’s eyes on him, which made him shiver.

_ Was she  _ really  _ driving him to the biodome? Or was she taking him somewhere where she could shoot him and loot his corpse, away from prying eyes. What if she found his old ECHO eye, still tucked away safely in his pocket? If she found that he had the equivalent of Handsome Jack’s ghost on him she’d probably- _

“Why is your tie tucked into your trousers?”

“W-what?” He stammered.

She indicated to her waist.

“The tie. …It… is a tie, right?”

“…Yes.” He said, incredulous. She’d asked it so innocently it had thrown him for a loop. “It’s, uh, a fashion thing.”

“You mean a ‘Hyperion’ thing. You wear a tie around here and you might as well have a massive sign over your head saying, ‘I’m important and wealthy, please rob me.’” Then she laughed at her own joke. “Maybe that’s why Jack never wore one.”

“Handsome Jack?”

“Yeah? Why, do you know any other Jacks?”

Rhys shook his head.

“Hmm.” She took one hand off the wheel and leaned back. Judging by her expression, she was thinking about something else to say.

“You going to miss Helios?” she asked suddenly, fixing him in a serious stare.

Rhys swallowed. Truthfully, the impact of what he’d done still hadn’t completely sunk in. He had taken down Helios.  _ Helios.  _ Something surely every person in the entire world had only ever dreamed of. Yet, there it was. No longer a permanent fixture in the skies above Pandora, but a broken and decrepit ruin that would soon rot away until it proved unrecognisable to anyone but those who knew about its true nature. God only knows how many years went into making it, to power it. And he’d taken it down in a matter of minutes. Even if it was simply just a work station that had more blood on its hands than even the most successful bounty hunter, in its own weird and bittersweet way it was still home.

“Honestly, I… Don’t know.” Was all he could say.

She licked her lips.

“Do you know why it fell out of orbit? Always thought it was a lot sturdier than it looked but hey. Guess I was wrong.”

At that Rhys sat up straight in his chair.

Should he tell her it was him who caused all this? Or would she berate him like Jack had? Then again, he could probably be easily sold off for an incredible amount of money if people knew it was  _ him _ who took down Helios. Best he kept playing dumb until he knew what her full intentions were with him.

He shrugged.

“No idea. I was tending to some business enquiries when it happened.”

She whistled.

“Damn. You really are one of the lucky ones.”

Rhys nodded. Then, she started smiling again.

“Guess you now know the true meaning to losing an arm and a leg, eh?” she said as she playfully nudged him.

Rhys tried to not let his jaw drop at her very odd sense of humour.

“I, uh. I guess?”

She rolled her eyes and continued focusing on the path before her. Rhys hoped she wouldn’t ask any more questions when she looked over to him again after just a few moments.

“Do you Hyperion folks have names? Or numbers?”

“Names? Like any other person?”

“Then what’s yours?”

“Rhys.”

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Just ‘Rhys’? No surname?”

Rhys felt his cheeks start to burn.

“…S-strongfork.” He said quietly, praying she wouldn’t hear.

“You what?!” The truck suddenly came to a screeching halt when she slammed the brake. There was a muffled growl from Rigel when his sleep was disturbed by the force and Rhys tried his best to not be sent flying through the windscreen. “Are you serious?! Surely you’re taking the piss?”

“No!” He said as defiantly as possible, only for his voice to immediately crack.

The lady threw her head back and practically howled with laughter.

“STRONGFORK! STRONG-FUCKING-FORK, HOLY SHIT!” she clapped her hands twice then suddenly leaned towards him, making Rhys in turn instinctually move away from her. “Does that mean if you marry someone with ‘spoon’ in their name, your child will be called ‘Spork’?”

Rhys was at a complete loss for words as she continued to laugh. This must have been the most fun she’d had in ages, but did it  _ have _ to be at his expense? Thank god he’d never said anything about it to Fiona or Sasha, they’d have  _ really _ torn him a new one.

Finally, after a full minute of slapping the driver’s wheel and her seat with each bout of laughter, she finally calmed down.

“Oh my god I have tears in my eyes.” She breathed, bringing her hands up to her face. “You’re a pretty funny guy, Mr. Fork.”

Rhys pouted.

“Thanks…” He muttered, a little annoyed.

Eventually, she started the truck back up again and they were off once more.

“God damn, who knew Hyperion was actually that funny?” She said, then paused when she noticed Rhys’ expression. She cleared her throat.

“Emlyn Aether, by the way.” She said softly, tilting her head at him. “But I don’t mind if you want to stick to just ‘Em’.”

“Nice name.”

“Thank you! I like yours too.” She said, winking at him.

_ Of course you do. _

* * *

Soon, the sun had set, and the trio were forced to park under an overhang for the night.

Rhys had asked Emlyn why they couldn’t just keep going, but she’d only shrugged.

“Don’t you have headlights?”

“Broke them when I was fending off a group of spiderants. Next time remind me not to park near a suspicious looking mound because I’m convinced it’s treasure.”

She turned off the engine, pocketed the keys then got out of the truck. Rhys attempted to copy her, only to fall out of his seat when the door suddenly swung outwards, pulling him along with it. Thankfully, Emlyn caught him before he could hit the ground.

“Woah there, buckaroo!” She exclaimed, putting her arms under him and lifting him up and away from the truck. “Those doors are made to hit people, not for little guys like you to ride on.”

“Uh-huh…” Rhys mumbled, somewhat dazed by how quickly the door had nearly taken him out.

She put him down in his usual spot against one of the truck’s tires and opened up the vehicle’s back door, allowing Rigel to jump out, run around and stretch his legs.

Satisfied that both boys were content for now, Emlyn began to unbuckle the belt around her waist as well as the pauldron that sat on her right shoulder.

“Are you taking off your armour?” Rhys said, looking away out of respect for her privacy.

“Yeah, why?”

“Because… This is  _ Pandora, _ not a luxury getaway.”

“It’s  _ fine,  _ Rhys.” She said, rolling her eyes. “I’m so much of the big boss of this area, not even the wildlife will attack me. Plus,” she indicated to Rigel, who was still running back and forth, kicking up clouds of dust and stones, “We’re fortunate enough to have a lookout.”

Each time she removed an armour piece, she flung it into the back of the truck, the pauldrons especially making Rhys wince with how loudly they clanged against the back wall, then there was a shuffling noise as she started looking for something in the very back of the truck.

“Want something to eat? Found a ton of canned goods in Helios’ ruins.”

“What do you have?”

“Peaches, rice, meat, vegetables, you name it.”

Rhys still kept his eyes averted when she clambered back out, trying to focus on Rigel’s antics.

“You can look, you know. I’m not shirtless, unless you’d prefer it that way-”

“No no!” Rhys started, only to be immediately rendered speechless when he got a proper look at her.

With Elpis now high in the sky, it illuminated the world in a calming blue glow, including Emlyn. Her hair cast her face in a half shadow and the lighting seemed to be in her favour, complimenting her figure. Maybe it was because she was now just wearing a black crop top, but her muscles were a lot more apparent, especially on her arms and body.  _ Did she  _ really  _ have a 6-pack? Holy shit. _

In both hands she held a tin, one labelled ‘peaches’ and the other ‘meat’ in an attempt to see which one he’d like.

But, unfortunately for Rhys, he could feel his eyes accidentally drifting to her chest.  _ Wow _ .

Thankfully, she seemed more interested in reading the text on the tins.

“God knows what kind of meat Helios even uses, probably some kind of processed abomination.” She shook the tin near her ear like she was expecting it to make an odd noise.

Eventually she seemed satisfied with her choices and whistled Rigel over. Putting one tin down she took the skag’s giant front paw with one hand and carefully used one of his claws to cut the lid off. Rhys was admittedly impressed at how she was able to use the claw with such careful precision. Clearly, she’d done it many times before. She then did the same with the other tin and handed the peaches to Rhys.

“Maybe it’s best you eat the fruit because I can stomach bad meat, but I don’t know about you. God forbid I somehow make your current situation even worse.”

Rhys took the tin from her with a smile, only to stare at it dumbly.

Of course. He only had one hand.

“Want me to help you with that?” Emlyn asked, pulling out a piece of metal that looked like a very crude fork from her trouser pocket before sitting down next to him.

“No thanks, I’ll be OK.” He said confidently, determined to at least do something on his own without help.

“Then use this.” She handed him the fork and he took it happily. It took Rhys a few tries, but he was finally able to spear one of the slices and eat it.

When was the last time he’d eaten literally anything?

Happy he was able to take care of himself, Emlyn picked up her own tin and started on her own meal.

The two sat in silence as they finished their tins, Rhys trying his best to focus on not dropping his slices and Emlyn watching Rigel in the moonlight, chuckling to herself every now and again when he acted surprised by the latest rock he’d accidentally kicked up.

Once Rhys had eaten every slice he could nab, Emlyn gently nudged him.

“Hope you don’t mind sleeping with me and Rigel. He probably snores more than me.”

“Sleep… where?”

“In the back.” She patted the truck’s side from where Rigel had exited. “Might be a bit of a squeeze with the three of us, but I think you’ll survive.”

Rhys looked first from Emlyn, to the skag, and then back to Emlyn.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah!” She said with a smile, but then it quickly turned devious. “Unless lying next to a woman gets you all hot and bothered under the collar.”

Jesus christ. Did this woman have some kind of kink for making him blush every five minutes?!

“I do not!”

“Really?” she raised an eyebrow at him. “Don’t think I don’t know where you’ve been looking.”

_ God dammit! _

He must have made a face as she started laughing again before standing up.

“You know,” she said between bouts of giggles, “I’ve seen a lot of interesting people in my time, but I’ll be honest: you’re probably the one person I’ve had the most fun with.”

“Uh… thanks.”

“No problem, my good man. Now, let’s get you to bed.”

She picked up both tins, threw them into the front seat then picked Rhys up to help him into the back of the truck.

It was certainly a LOT bigger on the inside, Rhys quickly realised as she took great care to place him up against the furthest wall with the door they’d just gone through at his feet. Once he was comfortable and she’d placed her cloak under his head as a pillow, she whistled for Rigel who came bounding over, making the whole truck shake and lean to the right with his weight. Eventually, he also lay down on the opposite side to Rhys, tilting his head curiously at Rhys.

Now with everything safe inside the truck, Emlyn leaned over Rigel and closed the door, bolting it shut and throwing them all into pitch blackness, save for Rigel’s green glow.

“Shouldn’t someone keep an eye out for bandits?” Rhys asked as he felt her lie down next to him, which was greeted with a laugh.

“Unless they have some kind of super weapon, they won’t be able to do shit to this thing. About three layers of armour, motion detector if idle for long enough,  _ and  _ bulletproof. She’s as sturdy as a rock.”

“You must be proud.”

“Course I am! I only ever get my stuff from the best around.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, time for chapter 3 which finally has some action and Emlyn gets to reveal a fair bit of her backstory/character as Pandora’s equivalent of a wild, unkempt Australian.
> 
> This one was a little tough for me as I worry I'm not the best at writing action scenes (ironically I feel quite confident in writing gore lmao. Guess I watch too many horror films), but hey, there's a first for everything. And since Borderlands doesn't take itself too seriously, I suppose it was an accidental smart move on my part as it doesn't have to be SO OVERLY SERIOUS it bores me and so would fit better in a Marvel film.
> 
> **As always, If you'd like to read chapters a week early before I post them, you can check em out via my Twitter: (@)GoldieClaws.**

With how severely drained he was with everything that had happened in the past 24 hours, Rhys wasn’t surprised with how heavily he slept despite his current condition. The moment everything had settled and his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light, losing himself to a dreamless sleep.

Now barely half-awake and struggling to move properly with how sluggish he felt, he moved his arm and felt his fingertips brush up against something foreign. There was a strange low hum that seemed to fully encompass him, but his brain was running too slow to focus on it properly. Wearily, he opened his eyes, only to be greeted by two pairs of large, alien green eyes.

“AAA!!” He lashed out with arm, catching his hand on something and falling backwards against a wall. In response to his scream, the monster shrieked at him, surprised by his sudden outburst.

Before anything else could happen however, he heard the sliding of metal against metal, and the room he was in was suddenly bathed in light.

“Hey, Rhys! Don’t go scaring my skag now unless you don’t mind losing a few fingers.”

Suddenly, everything came back to him. He’d survived the crashing of Helios. He’d been picked up and cared for by a big, muscular lady and her pet skag: Emlyn and Rigel. She had agreed to take him to the Altas biodome.

Slowly his body began to relax as he took in his surroundings.

“S-sorry.” He stammered, looking over to Rigel, who was watching him with wide eyes and tilting his head to and fro, as though trying to make sense of Rhys’ actions.

Eventually, he was distracted by a stinging sensation in his hand and looking down, realised he must have caught himself on Rigel when he started flailing. The palm of his hand had a cut going from his index finger to nearly halfway across it and it was already starting to bleed a strange, green substance.

“Where are the bandages?” Rhys asked.

“Why, did you hit Rigel?”

“I think so.”

At that he heard Emlyn sigh in an almost comical way.

“Then let him deal with it. He’s corrosive you know. But lucky for you,” Emlyn leaned over slightly, so he could see her through a small window that connected the back to the front, “he knows how to nullify it.”

Rhys gave her a look before turning back to the skag. When the stinging hit him again, he complied and held his hand out, somewhat nervous about what Rigel was going to do.

What if his method of ‘helping’ was just biting Rhys? After all, he was a stranger to Rigel. But then again, he’d seen what Fiona’s elemental bullet had done to Finch, so maybe the skag knew what it was doing.

Rigel brought his head close, calmly examining the wound. Then, his gigantic jaws opened and his tongue snaked out, wrapping itself around Rhys’ hand and almost all the way up his arm.

“What is he doing?!” Rhys asked, trying his best not to start struggling in case he angered the skag and actually _did_ lose another arm.

“Corrosive skag spit heals corrosive skag wounds. Makes sense, doesn’t it?” Emlyn mused, looking back every now and again to see the range of expressions Rhys was going through.

To Rigel’s credit however, the pain of the cut was subsiding and after a few minutes, the skag finally let go. Much to Rhys’ annoyance, his shirt sleeve had been thoroughly drenched, so much so that it was still dripping from all the saliva. He dared not shake his arm to get rid of it, unless he wanted to be completely covered in the stuff. He must have made a very disgusted face as Rigel chuffed at him, as though he were expecting a thank you.

“How’s your hand now?”

Sure, skags didn’t have magical healing properties so it hadn’t stopped the bleeding, but at least Rhys wasn’t in danger of losing a hand.

“Bloody, but OK.”

“Make sure you tell Rigel ‘thank you’!”

“…How?”

“Pet him! Just make sure not to use your palm, of course.”

Rhys snuck a glance at Rigel, who was now lying down next to him within petting range.

Not wanting to risk angering the skag, let alone his owner, Rhys gently stroked the ridges above Rigel’s eyes with the back of his hand. The rumbling of the engine stopped but was quickly replaced by the skag’s loud purring, which practically shook Rhys to his very core.

As giant and frightening as Rigel was, Rhys couldn’t deny there was something about him that was actually quite sweet, in his own weird way.

The two were quickly interrupted by Emlyn opening up the truck’s side door and stuck her head inside.

“See? He’s not as scary as he looks.”

“I guess.” Rhys answered, watching as Rigel backed up towards the door and exited back legs first. Once he was free of the truck, Emlyn turned to Rhys.

“Well?”

“Well… what?”

“You want me to bandage that hand? Or do you want to possibly bleed out.”

Knowing he’d just make a fool of himself without aid, Rhys shuffled over to the door, making sure to grab the medical box on his way out. Once he was sat on the edge with his legs dangling, Emlyn took the box from him and picked up a new bundle of bandages.

Now in the light, Rhys could see the bleeding wasn’t too bad, but he’d rather not risk yet another lovely opportunity to get an infection, so he let Emlyn get to work.

As she carefully cleaned the wound and wrapped the bandage around him, he could feel his thoughts start to wander.

There had been many, _many_ opportunities for her kill or abandon him, either by her hand or Rigel’s jaws. But for whatever reason, she’d chosen not to. Maybe Emlyn really did plan to sell him off. Yet, with how he looked currently, he would mean nothing to no-one. With zero cybernetics in him, he’d be useless in that regard. Maybe if he was able to keep up this weakling façade, she wouldn’t suddenly change her mind on how to treat him.

However, even if he couldn’t see into her mind, he still wanted to know what her reasoning was. Maybe at least he could plan an escape of some kind if everything suddenly went south.

“Emlyn?”

“Yeah?”

“You… do know what Helios and Hyperion has done to Pandora over the years, right?”

“’Course! It’s where Jack came from, after all. Granted he was probably the _worst_ example but, yeah I know.”

Rhys took a deep breath.

“Then, how come you’re helping me? Patching me up when I get hurt. Taking me to Atlas. Aren’t I the bad guy to you?”

Emlyn stopped what she was doing and fixed him in a steady gaze with a serious expression. As Rhys felt himself start to regret asking such a big question, she smiled.

“You really think I’d leave a guy like you to fend for himself? I may be a bandit, but I do have morals. Why should I care if you’re Hyperion? It’s always been a dog-eat-dog world up there, just like Pandora. I highly doubt you’ve ever looked at a gun, let alone know what one even _is._ Being ripped to shreds by rakks isn’t a nice way to go out either and if I have the opportunity to help someone, I’ll do it.”

Then, her serious expression returned.

“That a problem for you?”

“N-no, I-” Rhys started, trying to gather his thoughts over what she’d just said. Even if they weren’t life-long friends, there was something about her tone that did feel genuine. Maybe it was because for once, she wasn’t laughing her head off at him. “I just thought that-”

“That I’m a cold-blooded killing machine like any other bandit?”

Rhys opened his mouth to say something, only to close it again. Eventually, Emlyn continued.

“Also, you’re not the bad guy. That’s your boss’ job.”

“What… makes you think I’m not the boss?”

At that, she did laugh, which admittedly helped Rhys allow himself to relax.

“ _Trust me,_ I know a boss when I see one, and you’re definitely not it.”

Rhys didn’t know if he should have felt relieved or insulted by that statement.

“Plus, I know a thing or two about Hyperion thanks to a friend. She used to work there like you. I wonder what her reaction was to seeing Helios fall to Pandora?”

Content that she’d done a good enough job with Rhys’ hand, Emlyn stood up properly and put the rest of the tape and bandages away.

“Like any person, I am capable of being an asshole, Rhys.” She said as she prepped the truck for departure. “But at this rate, with how many cuts and scrapes you keep getting, what’s the point? You haven’t threatened me, hurt me, shot at me. Why _should_ I want to kill you, huh?”

Rhys shared her gaze for a moment before looking down at the ground. With how earnest she’d sounded saying that, it was him who now felt like the asshole. He’d been thinking she was going to stab him in the back and here she was, actually trying to help him. Handsome Jack must have really rubbed off on him.

“I’m sorry if I sounded like I was accusing you of anything bad.” He said quietly. “I guess I’m just not used to… _Nice_ people who actually want to help.”

“Met a few bad apples?”

“Too many to count.”

Emlyn sighed and shook her head.

“What can I say? Pandora really isn’t for the weak willed. Or someone who struggles befriending people.”

Rhys half-laughed at her comment.

“You can say that again.”

She smiled sweetly at him, which he happily returned, before she picked him up in her arms once more. As if on cue, Rigel was by her side again and jumped back into his spot in the back of the truck. Then, she gave him a look whilst still holding him.

“Thought I might put you in the front with me with the window down, otherwise you will _never_ dry out.”

Rhys looked at his sleeve, which was somehow still dripping with saliva.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

* * *

With what Emlyn guessed was about a day or two to go before they reached the Atlas station, the two chose to spend their time talking about what they’d gotten up to in their lives.

Rhys was quick to find out that Emlyn and her family were from Elpis, hence the accent, but she ended up moving to Pandora when she turned fifteen years old with the intention of making a name for herself, learning how to use guns from her grandmother whilst wearing a mask made just for her from her uncle. At nineteen years old, she found Rigel as a pup, saving him from a group of bandits who planned on using him as target practice. From then on, she quickly became known as a figure called The Ghost, due to her armour allowing her to blend in with the Pandoran wilderness. With Rigel’s help, and her terrifying accuracy with a sniper rifle and rocket launchers, she soon became respected as a bandit leader and warlord of her own camp.

 _Now_ that _is what I call making a name for yourself._ Rhys thought, looking over at her with admiration.

“But why move to Pandora at such a young age?” he asked. “Weren’t you worried you’d be killed the second you set foot on the ground?”

Emlyn rolled her eyes.

“You really think I’d come here without a buttload of preparation and training? I’ll have you know that since I was twelve, I’ve been able to keep a constant track record of ‘one bullet one kill’ when I use my rifle. And when you come from Elpis, it might as well be a compulsory skill at this point.”

“Fair enough.”

When it was his turn to speak, Rhys played up the story he’d always simply been a worker on Helios and to at least sound _somewhat_ impressive to Emlyn, he’d been able to con Vasquez out of a ten million dollar deal with Vaughn’s help, sharing the money between the two of them.

She whistled at the amount.

“I hope you don’t have that money on you somehow because people around here would kill for that.”

“Oh, I don’t! It… pretty much got blown up anyway.”

“Damn. There goes buying that nice car you were eyeing up.”

“No kidding.” He said with a laugh.

Now feeling confident he had a made-up backstory that wouldn’t garner a game of twenty questions, Rhys felt more comfortable in Emlyn’s presence. He was even able to make her laugh a few times when he imitated Vasquez, which made him realise how nice it was now she was laughing _with_ him and not _at_ him.

As the two continued to talk, Rhys soon lost any sense of time as he found himself growing more and more intrigued in Emlyn and her life. The fact she was from Elpis of all places was certainly impressive, especially with the stories he’d heard about that place.

Even as the sun began to set, Emlyn continued to drive as the truck entered a particularly intimidating ravine with high walls and jagged rocks, making their playful conversations quickly die down. It was definitely the last place Rhys wanted to be, but according to her it was the fastest way to get to the biodome.

It was clear that she wanted to avoid it too, judging by the way she leaned forward over the wheel to look up at the small nooks and crannies any person or beast could be hiding on. Rhys assumed she’d prefer to floor it if the road ahead didn’t twist and turn so often. He felt himself start to sink further into his seat out of fear of something jumping out and scaring him, especially with how the high walls now plunged everything into darkness. Only small shreds of the fading light here and there saved them from careening into sharp rocks and potentially destroying the tires.

The drive seemed to go on for an agonising long time, each second crawling by at a snail’s pace. Rhys couldn’t believe how much a lack of light could affect the presentation of an area as badly as this.

Eventually, _thankfully,_ the walls began to widen and the road straightened out, allowing Emlyn to speed up as they started moving down an incline. However, as she did, she flicked a switch on the underside of the dashboard.

“What’s that for?” Rhys whispered, now wary of raising his voice.

“For Rigel. If we get jumped, he can’t get out otherwise.”

“You think we’re going to be attacked?”

“Yes.”

Rhys breathed in sharply.

“What makes you think that?”

Before Emlyn could answer, Rhys caught movement in the corner of his eye and turned to look, only to see a black object of some kind fly out from the darkness and lodge itself onto the hood of the truck.

Emlyn yelled something and before he could react, she put an arm around his waist and tore him from his seat, opening her car door and throwing herself from the vehicle, wrapping her body around him as the two were flung to the ground. The force of hitting the ground and rolling god knows how many times made Rhys think he was going to throw up, only being able to calm himself when the two eventually came to a stop.

Dazed and confused, he felt Emlyn put him on his back and then suddenly lie on top of him, pressing herself against him.

“Don’t move.” She whispered sharply, moving her arms to cover both sides of his body and head so that no one could grab him without having to get through Emlyn first.

There was a loud crash as the truck collided with a wall and overturned, landing on its side as it was suddenly enveloped in the bright lights of shock grenades. Rhys heard Emlyn curse, clearly angry and frustrated at how easily the vehicle had been taken out despite how much praise she’d been giving it prior.

Soon, the two became aware of footsteps and, attempting to look over Emlyn’s shoulder, Rhys caught sight of their assailant.

Bandits.

Of course.

The one he assumed was the leader, judging by his attire, full beard and ridiculous-looking hat, stepped forward and pointed a sawn-off shotgun at Emlyn, who met the man’s action with a fierce stare.

“Don’t you kids know not to walk into a person’s home uninvited?” He bellowed. His tone made Rhys flinch, but Emlyn remained steadfast.

“Why’d you stop me then? We’d be out of your hair if you didn’t blow up my truck.”

“Not my problem, lady.” The man shouted. “It’s the guy you’re with we’re more worried about.”

_Had this guy ever heard of the phrase ‘indoor voice’?_

“What about him?”

“He’s Hyperion, dumbass! You blind!?” He stepped forward and pressed the shotgun against her forehead, finger on the trigger. Rhys felt his breath catch in his throat. “He your boyfriend or something?”

“No.”

“Then hand him over!”

Emlyn squared her shoulders.

“…No.”

Something about the way she’d said that must have intimidated the man, as he looked to his two companions with a confused expression. He seemed like the kind of person who was used to getting his own way and Emlyn was having none of it. She hadn’t even flinched when he pointed the gun at her.

“Who do you think you are?!”

Emlyn answered back with something, but Rhys didn’t hear it.

From where he was lying, he was looking straight up at the sky. It was now night-time, and the stars and Elpis were especially bright, twinkly in a soft, calming way. The winds must have been very strong up there as he could see that the clouds where practically flying by, creating all kinds of lovely and wonderful shapes.

How strange that during such a dangerous, life-threatening situation, he could only focus on the beauty of the sky above.

The man’s yelling brought him back to reality and he turned to see one of the bandits unsheathe a giant knife from his belt and slowly start to approach them.

“You got a choice! Either hand the Hyperion over, or we gut you!”

“Or I gut you first.” Emlyn replied, a smirk slowly growing on her face.

From behind the leader, Rhys saw a small layer of dust fall to the ground. Out of instinct, he braced himself.

“Listen here, you smartass B-!”

With a defiant shriek, Rigel threw himself at the man, jaws open wide. He screamed and Rhys cringed and closed his eyes when he heard the leader’s voice suddenly become muffled as his head was swallowed whole by the skag. The two followers were frozen in place, both too shocked to move at seeing how large he was and how he had appeared out of nowhere. Taking it as a cue to attack, Emlyn got to her feet in a flash, charging the knife-wielding bandit and taking him out with a violent headbutt before snatching the knife from them and burying it in their chest repeatedly before dragging it from chest to groin, making blood and gore go everywhere.

Rhys rolled over onto his stomach, so he could try to escape before he got shot at, only to be greeted by the headless corpse of the bandit leader falling to the ground in front of him, making him shriek. The last bandit tried to reach for their gun, but already Rigel was upon them, flinging their body back and forth like a ragdoll until the screaming finally stopped.

As Rhys tried to bring himself to his feet, he felt Emlyn’s firm hands on him, pulling him upright. She then snatched up the shotgun and held him close, looking around wildly to see if there were any more bandits who planned on ambushing them as she walked backwards to the truck.

Thankfully, it seemed that their assailants were only the now three very _very dead_ bodies that littered the roadside. But then again, it would only be a matter of time before reinforcements showed up.

Once satisfied his chew toy wasn’t going to get back up again, Rigel returned to Emlyn’s side, jaws wet and bloody.

She walked around the truck so that it could function as a makeshift barrier, then set Rhys down.

“You alright?” She said, now out of breath.

His head was still swimming at how quickly everything happened, but tried to force himself to nod so his sudden muteness didn’t worry her.

She gave his body a quick check over and once happy he wasn’t hurt, Emlyn climbed onto the truck’s side and opened its door. Then, she jumped in and returned with her cloak, mask, sword, and medical box.

Rigel moved over to Rhys’ side and stood over him, allowing Rhys to use the skag’s leg as a support to hold himself upright and, oddly enough, help ground him. He could feel the adrenaline was still coursing through his body and was genuinely grateful as the skag’s show of affection.

“Bastard’s shot my engine to hell,” Emlyn growled, putting her cloak and mask back on. Then, in anger and outrage, she kicked the truck with so much force it echoed down the ravine. “What a waste of god damn money.”

“W-what... about my... arm?” Rhys was still struggling to find his voice.

“Got crushed when the truck rolled over.” She dropped the remains of said arm to the ground. The plating had been flattened and the arm itself has been bent backwards at a 90 degree angle. “Not even the wires look like they can be saved.” She seemed to say to herself, then paused. “I’m sorry Rhys.”

“It’s OK. Doubt… it would’ve done… much in the long run.”

Pressing his body against Rigel’s, Rhys slowly brought himself back to his feet.

“So… we… Walk?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Emlyn stepped towards him, then placed a hand on his shoulder. Even if her face was covered, Rhys could practically feel her smiling warmly at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll carry you.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This week has gone by really quickly for me ngl. Feels like only yesterday I posted chapter 3, but thankfully my backlog reaches all the way into mid-September so I'm not too worried about this story overtaking me. And! I'm very close to finishing part one of this fic, but something tells me the final chapter will be very long unless I choose to split it into two extra chapters. Guess only time will tell!
> 
> Anyways, summary for this chapter: The trio now get a step closer to reaching The Atlas biodome and Rhys attempts to act the leader for just a second, only for that to immediately fall through because this is Rhys we're talking about. Also, Rigel gets to cosplay as Sif from _Dark Souls_ for a few hours, so that automatically makes him the best character in this entire fic. Hopefully Rhys isn't forced to kill him for those sweet, sweet souls.
> 
> Also I swear not all my chapters end in someone talking lmao. For some reason it's just how this particular fic is and in turn, that's just how it is on this bitch of an earth.
> 
> **As always, If you'd like to read chapters a week early before I post them, you can check em out via my Twitter: (@)GoldieClaws.**

Now wielding Rhys like a backpack and supporting him with both arms, Emlyn walked on with Rigel at the rear, her sword tied to his back so that it didn’t drag along the ground. She’d also readjusted her cloak, having it cover Rhys so that he didn’t faint from the sun beating down on him so fiercely.

Already he was starting to miss the safety of the truck, feeling so ‘out in the elements’ without the safety of its metal walls. And Emlyn was unarmed, so their only saviour would be Rigel if things suddenly went south as suddenly as they had earlier, but despite his size it wasn’t like even the most superpowered skag was capable of withstanding bullets.

Trying to not let this new sense of fear get to him, he focused on Emlyn instead.

With the way she held him, he could rest his head on her shoulder and listen to her as she hummed to herself. It was surprisingly soothing and a few times he caught himself drifting off, only jolting awake when the screeches of rakks and wild skags overhead woke him back up.

Knowing he wasn’t going to get anywhere trying to fall asleep, he decided to pass the time by talking to her instead.

“Emlyn?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s with the sword? I thought you said you have a sniper rifle and rocket launcher.”

“Hey! Can’t a lady have a little variety?” She said, wiggling her shoulders slightly in a playful manner.

“Well, yes. But what if you’re being shot at?”

“Then I’ll just digistruct my rifle into my hands, no harm done. Plus, my sword makes for a pretty effective shield. Y’know, as long as the opponent doesn’t have any shock weapons.”

“Hmm.”

There was a pause as she kept walking before she turned her head slightly to continue talking to him.

“Don’t suppose you know about the Vault Hunter Zer0.”

“What about them?”

“They run around wielding a sword too. Does that mean they’re also stupid for thinking they can cosplay as some kind of superpowered hero?”

“I didn’t say you were stupid!” Rhys objected.

“Really? Sounded like you were.” Despite her words, it was clear in Emlyn’s voice that she was joking, which made Rhys laugh in acknowledgement.

“Well, I guess it is your choice. Just… try to not get shot at whilst I’m with you.”

“Pfft, no promises.”

* * *

The day seemed to go by slower than usual as they walked, which made Rhys wonder if they would ever reach their destination. A few hours ago they had walked into colder territory, but he still couldn’t catch sight of the biodome. Granted, it was hidden away and maybe was even closer than he thought, but the idea of them somehow overshooting it started to creep up on him.

Suddenly, Emlyn stopped, making Rhys jolt back to reality.

“Something wrong?” He asked, noticing where she was looking and followed her gaze.

Dark clouds had started to form on the horizon and seemed to be approaching at an alarming rate. Already Rhys could feel the wind picking up and he began to shiver. Whatever was coming, they needed to act quick and find shelter.

Tightening her grip on Rhys, Emlyn started to half-run half-jog to one of the cliff faces with Rigel bounding after her. After running along the wall for an agonising few minutes, she finally found what she was after: A cave.

The ceiling was low, forcing her and Rigel to crouch, but thankfully it went deeper into the cliff face, allowing the trio to huddle together comfortably as the tunnel expanded into a room-sized area. Once she’d found a spot to settle down, Emlyn got on her knees to allow Rhys to let go of her.

“What was that? Snowstorm?” He asked, watching as Rigel lay down on all fours and she sat down so she could lean against him.

“Yep. Think ourselves lucky we can get any kind of shelter in this place.” She grabbed a corner of her cloak and extended her arm out, inviting Rhys to sit next to her. When he complied, she wrapped it around him, holding him close. “Can’t have you freezing to death either. Not when we’re this close to our end goal.”

Rhys was hesitant at first, but then felt brave enough to rest his head on her shoulder, listening to the winds outside start to pick up speed.

It had caught up on them faster than expected and he winced each time the wind grew so loud it made his ears ring.

“How long until it passes do you think?” he shouted above the din. He felt Emlyn shrug.

“God knows. If it keeps up, we might have to do a bit of exploring.” She pointed to where the tunnel continued. Admittedly, the darkness seemed immensely uninviting, but if they had no choice then Rhys would just have to bite his tongue and stick close to her.

Already he could feel a headache starting from all the noise, but Emlyn and Rigel were unperturbed. The only time Emlyn seemed to move was when she tightened her grip on him, trying to stop him from shivering. Every now and then she picked up what Rhys assumed was her ECHO, checking the time every half hour or so. Every time she looked however, she grew more aggravated as the storm showed no sign of letting up.

They must have entered the sixth hour when she’d finally had enough.

“ _Alright,_ that’s it. We’re moving.”

She stood up, being careful not to hit her head on the low ceiling, and Rhys and Rigel followed suit. She picked up her ECHO once more, pressed a few buttons, and before Rhys’ eyes a sniper rifle appeared in her hands in a flash of blue particles.

 _How big_ was _that thing?_ Rhys wondered. The rifle itself looked like it was taller than even him.

She flicked a switch and the room and dark tunnel was now bathed in a warm, yellow light. Then, she turned to Rhys.

“I’ll go first and take out any pests that try to bother us. You stick in the middle. Rigel will stay in the back.”

Rigel chuffed and Rhys nodded in response. Satisfied they both understood, Emlyn smiled and then turned back to the tunnel and started walking.

* * *

Trying to not to slip on the icy floor and using the walls and medical box as support, Rhys could feel the tunnel go up and down in a strange, erratic manner. What had formed said tunnel he didn’t want to think about, but for all he knew it could have been a spiderant or something similar. Did spiderants even live in colder climates?

As they trudged deeper and deeper for god knows how long, Rhys could feel the air around him start to get warmer. No surprise there, of course. They must have been so far away from the surface by now that this area didn’t even know what cold air even was. Thankfully, the ceiling also began to rise, allowing his two companions to stand up straight.

Finally, Emlyn stopped and Rhys tried his best to not accidentally crash into her. He heard Rigel growl softly from behind him, moving forward to press himself protectively against Rhys and putting his head over one shoulder.

“Something wrong?” He asked, only for Emlyn to respond with turning off the light on her sniper rifle.

The moment she did that, the tunnel became bathed in a blue glow from what Rhys saw was a larger room just ahead. Emlyn grew tense and tightened her grip on her rifle, finger now poised over the trigger.

“Stay here.” She said, and before Rhys could object she moved forward, gun now raised to eye level. She approached the opening calmly, peering left and right before stepping past the tunnels threshold. Once clear, she did a quick 180, looking all around for anything that might try to attack her. She did this a few times, before lowering her gun and motioning for the duo to join her.

Now free of the tunnels tight walls, Rhys practically leapt free of the tunnel to join Emlyn’s side. With a grunt of effort, Rigel was able to join them too, chuffing softly to himself over how his wide shoulders and spines had caused a few cracks here in there in the tunnel’s opening.

Now able to move properly, Rhys looked around to take everything in and he could feel a small smile start to grow on his face.

The glow had been coming from a number of giant mushrooms, the same kind that he had seen leading to the entrance of the Atlas biodome. Maybe they were on the right path after all.

“You seem happy.” Emlyn said, noticing Rhys’ expression.

“And for good reason! I think we found an accidental shortcut to the Atlas station I’m after!”

Emlyn gave him a surprised look, following behind him as he started to lead the way.

He thought it would be best to follow the mushrooms from here on out, knowing he was going the right way by how they were steadily growing larger and larger.

A small, perhaps morbid, part of his brain wondered if Jack could see all this, and if the idea of seeing these mushrooms again was driving him up the wall once more in the same manner it had weeks prior.

Emlyn, and Rigel especially, made sure to stay close so that he wasn’t suddenly attacked by some kind of new and vicious creature.

Even if this was a minor moment of empowerment, Rhys felt like he was now in complete control of the situation. For once, he knew where he was going with Emlyn and Rigel at his heels instead of the other way around. He couldn’t deny he’d been wanting to be the leader for a while now, to have a chance to prove his worth. Especially with his current physical condition.

Practically ecstatic at the idea that he could arguably now call the shots, he marched on ahead with surprising speed, not even caring that the surrounding air was getting colder and causing him to start to shiver again.

“You sure we’re going the right way?” He heard Emlyn say and he turned his head to look at her as he walked.

“Of course! If we keep moving, we’re bound to reach the station in no time.” He could feel himself start to puff his chest out with pride. “And when we get there, I’ll be able to digistruct a new arm, fix my eye, get some new cl-”

In his haste to impress, he’d walked right into a giant web and had got himself caught. Trying to wiggle himself free, he was unable to turn his head back to look at Emlyn, but he could hear her break down in fits of giggles, amused to no end how he’d completely missed something so obvious.

Rigel whined, presumably out of pity for Rhys, then stepped forward and carefully clamped his jaws on Rhys’ arm, wrapping his tongue around Rhys once more for support before he was pulled free.

Emlyn was too busy laughing at Rhys’ current state as Rigel carefully tore the cobwebs from his body until he was mostly clean.

“My _god_ man. How are you able to make it through even one day without hurting or embarrassing yourself?” Emlyn asked when she eventually approached him, trying yet failing to keep a straight face.

Angry he’d been humiliated and taken out so easily by something he could have easily avoided, Rhys tried to focus on cleaning himself up.

“Sheer luck I guess…” He responded bitterly, his face burning too much to even dare look her in the eye. However, he couldn’t stay in that state for long when Emlyn put an arm around him.

“Don’t worry, Rhys. Rigel and I will take all this to our grave, won’t we?” She turned to the skag who purred, gently headbutting Rhys to show his support of Emlyn’s statement. “Not even Jack could squeeze that info out of me.”

Rhys looked up at her and he could see her expression was now soft and calm. It felt almost loving, but there was no way Rhys could admit that to her without somehow making his dignity dip even _further_ down on the ‘respect’ scale. Keeping quiet rather than stammer stupidly over his words seemed a far wiser option. But, at least her actions and words did help comfort him.

“Thanks, Emlyn. That means a lot, honestly.”

At that her smile grew wider.

“Glad to hear it!” She lightly patted his back and readjusted her grip on her sniper rifle. “But this time, I think I’ll walk in front. At least I can clear a path for you.”

Rhys rolled his eyes then stepped to one side to let her pass.

“OK, you win. Lead the way.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m having to add this chapter via mobile because my computer is currently at the shop getting fixed, so if there’s any weird glitches in the text that will be why. Thank god I can share this all ahead of time through a google doc lmao.
> 
> Anyway, we now get to see a little bit more of Emlyn’s personality, which might as well equal to ‘flirt with anything that moves’ and cause Rhys to turn into a stoplight. Not that he would probably object, if later chapters are any indicator aylmao. Rigel also continues to be the goodest of boys because of course he is <3
> 
> Also! I’d like to give a shoutout to all the people reading this fic, as my hits have slowly been increasing per chapter. I guess that’s because the story is slowly getting more and more to it, but still! I appreciate the love for this silly thing. Self-shipping is in my blood so the fact people are chill with it is very nice :> Plus this fic is a nice gateway into writing longer fics and how I should plan them out, especially since I have a much, MUCH longer fic I’m working in separate from this. Nothing can stop me. Except maybe my computer constantly crashing but hey-ho.
> 
> **Like the broken record I am, if you’d like to read my chapters ahead of everyone else, you can check them out via my Twitter: (@)Goldieclaws and, this time, my Tumblr as well: (@)goldenclawsandplatinumsouls.**

Whilst it did take a while and a  _ lot  _ of walking, eventually it was revealed to the trio that Rhys’ hunch of them making their way to the Altas station was correct.

The cave they exited from lead out into the blue forest area of the biodome and immediately Rhys felt himself go on high alert when he could see the jellyfish-like creatures floating by between the leaves of the trees. They appeared calm, but he’d rather not risk angering them a second time when they seemed to have no means of fending them off.

He knew it would be pointless returning to the room where he, Fiona, and the others had found Cassius. Vallory had shot a grenade launcher into the room after all, likely rendering everything inside to rubble. However, the biodome was still much larger than it looked, so surely there was another room of some kind he could use to return himself to his former glory.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Emlyn had spotted the jellyfish as well and she slowly raised her sniper rifle to point it at them.

“Hold on!” Rhys grabbed her arm, making her grip on the rifle slip.

“Rhys, for god’s sake!” She quickly corrected herself before she could drop the gun. “ _ Never  _ do that when I’m about to either shoot or inspect something.”

“But you shouldn’t!”

“…Why?”

“Those jellyfish… things? They’re docile as long as you don’t annoy them.”

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Define ‘docile’.”

“Just, don’t annoy them or touch the foliage. And we’ll be OK.”

She looked at him then back to the jellyfish. Then, she lowered her gun and straightened her posture.

“Well, I guess you do know this place better than me, so I won’t argue with that.”

Happy she’d backed down, the two walked in unison through the forest, Rigel sticking close behind and being whistled at by Emlyn every time he got too close to the plants for her comfort.

“Do you know where we’re going?” She eventually asked.

“Honestly, not really. The office I’d normally go to was destroyed by bandits a while back. We’ll just have to look for a different one.”

At the mention of bandits, Emlyn stiffened.

“You think they’re still around?”

“N-no! They probably left ages ago. I doubt anything around here would mean anything to them.”

Despite his words, Emlyn seemed unconvinced.

“You can never be too sure, Rhys. Just because you say so, doesn’t mean it’s 100% true. Plus, this is an  _ Atlas  _ station. For all I know, there’s all kinds of technology to be found here and looted.”

Rhys couldn’t deny what she said was true and looked away.

“What’s your plan, then?”

She took a deep breath.

“First, we look around to see if this place has a bunker of some kind. Then from there I explore the area for any kind of bandits or psychos that might be lurking about. Then it should be safe to patch you up.”

“What if I’d like to explore as well? It’s a nice place.”

Emlyn shrugged.

“Well if you need to stretch your legs, you can take me or Rigel with you. I can give you a gun if you want. But you’re  _ only  _ doing that when I’ve made sure the place is safe.”

“Of course!” Rhys said, nodding in acknowledgement.

Happy he understood, the two continued their walk, keeping to the path as they moved.

Thankfully, unlike the rest of their travelling and walking, this one only lasted a few minutes until they found a large bunker buried deep within a stone wall. The doors were slightly ajar, presumably from misuse, which allowed Emlyn to grab a hold of them and force them open with enough effort.

Rhys admittedly could feel his heart flutter slightly at how easy she made it look.

Once inside, and with Emlyn raising her rifle in case of any unexpected guests, the two discovered that there was more to the bunker than met the eye.

The first room was filled with computers on the right and back wall with a table in the centre, as well as a quick-change station on the left which flickered softly in the low light. Various boxes here and there littered the floor and appeared untouched, judging by the thick layer of dust that covered everything. Wires seemed to be pouring out of everywhere, some which Rhys recognised as possible replacements for his eye and arm.

Emlyn flipped a switch and the room was suddenly vibrant once more, now allowing them to see a doorway next the to the quick-change.

Keeping close to Emlyn’s back as she lead them through the room and to the doorway itself, Rhys stood on his tiptoes to look over her shoulder and peer into the room within.

Much like the first, this one was also horrendously dusty but instead had a glass roof. In neat rows were enormous plant pots that housed what Rhys could only think were miniature trees and each one seemed to bear fruit of various kinds. A few he recognised as the same Vaughn had been eating when they first entered the biodome.

Emlyn walked in, holstering her weapon and examining each pot’s label.

_ This must have been the place Cassius got all his food from. _ Rhys thought, following after her when Rigel insisted on wandering around the room himself.  _ Maybe that meant the original office and the entrance was somewhere nearby. _

Everything so far had been untouched, and there was no trail of recent footprints to be seen either. The small hope he had that Cassius or Vaughn were still around seemed bleak, which only helped make him feel sick to the stomach. All he could do now was pray for his friend’s safety.

“Hey Rhys!”

“Yes?”

“There’s another door here.”

He was quick to join Emlyn’s side once more to see what she was looking at. The door itself was locked, its keypad bleeping indignantly back at Emlyn.

“Doubt we’ll be able to find anyone around here that can help us.” She muttered before grabbing her sniper rifle once more and shooting out the lock as Rhys covered his ears. How the sound of the gun didn’t break the glass windows he had no idea.

Finally, the keypad stopped bleeping and like the bunker’s front doors, Emlyn forced this door open too, pushing past it so she could see what else she could find.

There was enough space for Rhys as well as Rigel to crawl through, but something about the room held him back from following her. He could hear Rigel move in behind him, standing over him and peeking his head into the room as well.

“See anything?” He asked, only for Emlyn to respond by flicking yet another switch. At that, she whistled to herself.

“Well, looks like we’re all set for a few weeks.” She announced happily before turning to Rhys and moving out the way.

This room had beds pressed up against the left and right wall, all with their sheets neatly folded and provided with a pillow and mattress.

Rhys was impressed. He hadn’t thought Atlas would be  _ this  _ resourceful when it came to caring for its employees and workers.

Emlyn began to unpack, resting her gun against one of the beds and taking off her mask and cloak. Rhys followed suit, putting the medical box he’d been holding onto on the floor and walking over to one of the beds. Upon closer inspection with his hand, the mattresses may have not been the  _ best  _ quality, but it wasn’t like he was about to turn something like this down.

Rigel shuffled his way in also (how exactly he did that without breaking the spikes on his shoulders definitely confused Rhys), stretching in an exaggerated manner before lying down on all fours once more with a happy snort.

Now free of her layers, Emlyn collapsed onto one of the beds with a look of pure bliss on her face.

“ _ God,  _ when was the last time I found a nice bed to lie on?” She closed her eyes and Rhys couldn’t stop himself from sitting next to her and watch her as she quietly lay there. He found himself smiling as he gazed at her. She looked so lovely and peaceful.

Eventually, she opened her eyes and looked at him, making him quickly avert his gaze.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I wasn’t! I was… Looking at the bed.”

She laughed.

“You’re a terrible liar.”

Rhys blushed.

“Am not!” He retorted, which made Emlyn sit up. He tried not to look at her, but he could feel her eyes on him regardless.

“Sounds more like you’re just itching to ask if you can sleep next to me.” The thought alone seemed to amuse her greatly.

“I do not!” At that he stood up, eyes wide with surprise at her comment, but it only made her laugh again.

“Hey! I wouldn’t object if you wanted.”

Rhys felt his body relax slightly.

“Really?”

“Yeah. You gotta learn what it’s like to sleep with a woman somehow.” She smirked as Rhys’ face went a deeper shade of red.

“I-I know how to sleep next to someone! A… woman, I mean.”

“You don’t sound like it.” At that she stood up and stepped towards him. Rhys was too awestruck over her words to move or stop her from placing a hand on his cheek.

Now so close to her and with a clear view of the way her eyes twinkled, he could see that this might as well be something she did for a living: making all kinds of comments to see if she could fluster her competition into submission. Not that he was doing much to fight against her or even make any kind of attempt to win her over.

Finally, she let go of him.

“Y’know, I think I’ll stop there. If I kept this up, I’d probably kill you.” She winked at him before turning around and picking up her rifle. “I’ve got to scope out the area anyway, so I can make sure there’s no one lurking about that could ruin our fun.”

Before she left, she untied the sword from Rigel’s back and rested it against the wall.

“Oh! And whilst I’m gone, don’t expect Rigel to listen to you if you try to order him around. He’ll protect and comfort you if he needs to, but at the end of the day, I  _ was  _ the one who raised him.”

And with that, Emlyn spun around and left like a man on a mission, leaving Rhys alone with Rigel and his thoughts in the dusty old room.

* * *

Despite the length of time Rhys lay there on the bed with his hands behind his head, he could still feel how wide awake he was. Now and then he looked over to Rigel, who had positioned himself in front of the door and appeared as though he were fast asleep. Judging by his breathing however, Rhys assumed it was an act; a ploy to allow any expected victims close to him, so he could strike easily. They’d certainly have their work cut out for them if they tried to take someone like him down.

Suddenly, his stomach started growling, answering his question of why he hadn’t been able to sleep. And it was only now he realised how hungry he really was.

He stood up from his bed and started to move towards the greenhouse, being careful to not step on Rigel as he squeezed past. As he did so, Rigel opened his eyes and watched as Rhys moved from one room to the next, wondering what he was up to.

“Just getting something to eat.” He said to the skag, not even knowing if Rigel could even understand him. He tilted his head at Rhys after Rhys spoke, presumingly catching the words and trying to make sense of them.

Once he was free of the bedroom, Rhys began to wander around, plant pot after plant pot, so he could find something that he could grab relatively easily. As full of fruit as the trees were, there was no way he’d be able to reach any of it without a ladder.

Eventually, he came across a tree that was slightly shorter than the others in the corner of the greenhouse, presumably planted last, and on it was a large, blue fruit  _ just  _ within his reach.

Rhys took a deep breath and held out his hand for it, but he could only barely touch it with his fingertips.

“Come on.” He growled, gritting his teeth and reaching for it a second time.

Yet again, the fruit refused to budge.

He stopped and stared up at it, pouting. If only Emlyn hadn’t left so soon, she could have pulled it down for him.

There was a grunt and click of claws from behind him, and Rhys turned to see that Rigel had followed, seemingly waiting patiently for Rhys to notice him.

The skag gave him a long look before glancing up at the fruit Rhys was after, carefully walking around him so the two were side by side.

Then, with a sharp exhale, he stood up on his back legs, placing a paw on the branch that bore the fruit and pulled it down so that its prize was now inches away from Rhys’ face.

Rhys blinked at Rigel, then grabbed fruit and pulled it loose before stepping away from the tree.

Content that Rhys had gotten what he wanted and wouldn’t get whacked, Rigel let go of the branch and fell back to all fours, tilting his head at Rhys yet again.

“Uh, thanks Rigel.” He put the fruit in the crook of his arm and awkwardly patted the skag, who purred happily at the gesture.

Now that he’d gotten what he wanted, Rhys returned to his bed and sat down, Rigel returning to his spot at the door and continuing to feign sleep.

He sat there watching Rigel for a moment longer until his stomach started to protest, growling louder than the skag itself.

Daintily, Rhys took a bite out of the fruit, expecting it to taste overly sweet. To his surprise however, it was sour, but not to a point where he wanted to spit it out. In fact, it was actually quite nice and seemed to satisfy his hunger after just a few more large bites. No wonder the fruit they’d found at the beginning hadn’t been finished, they were more filling than they looked.

With a deep sigh, Rhys leaned back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling, now feeling himself start to drift off.

_Yep!_ He thought _._ _This stuff could most certainly keep them going for the next few weeks._


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've been away from this fic for so long I'm starting to forget what happens in each chapter lmao. I keep trying to write chapter 10 but the heat just drains me. Still prefer it over winter though!
> 
> Anyway, here's more bonding with Rigel and Emlyn, and Rhys finally gets a second to think about what's happened to the rest of the _Tales_ crew. Also, if I'm taking this long to get to the actual romance, I wonder if I should tag this thing as a slow burn? Makes sense, considering the story's time frame. Next time, I think I'll plan my tags because half the time, I forget which ones are relevant and which aren't.
> 
> **As always, chapters can be read ahead of time via my Twitter (@/GoldieClaws) and my Tumblr if you ask nicely (@/goldenclawsandplatinumsouls). I'm currently inactive on Twitter bc uni work lmao, but Tumblr is my new home now like it was way back when.**

With Emlyn still not back from her little adventure of scouting the area, Rhys decided he’d get to work on constructing new parts for himself. He returned to the room with the quick-change station, pulled away one of the chairs from the computer desks and set it down next to the centre table. Then, he began rummaging around through the boxes for anything he could use as a base for a new arm.

As useful as the quick-change station was, he deemed making a base for an arm to digistruct his best move, otherwise the station would have nothing to work from.

He was eventually able to find an arm’s skeleton, surprisingly well preserved. Thank goodness he wasn’t the only one in the entire galaxy with a cybernetic arm. Next, he would need wiring, which was practically in abundance, and he was quick to find what he was after. Now. The only thing he lacked was a hand.

Putting the parts onto the table, he began to search through the other boxes on the table, hoping that at least he could find something nearby to the box he found the arm itself in.

As he continued looking, he was vaguely aware of Rigel having followed him into this room also, taking an interest in the parts on the table. He decided to focus on his task, worried the skag would distract him.

Now, he was forced to look at the boxes on the ground and he could feel himself start to panic at the idea of going without an arm for god knows how long.

His thoughts were interrupted by Rigel whining and he turned to see what all the fuss was about.

The skag was standing by one of the boxes that was sitting on the computer desk, eyes fixated on it.

Standing up, Rhys walked over to him and looked inside. To his surprise, within the pile of mix match of metal parts, was indeed a hand; its fingers peaking through from under a sheet of metal. Carefully, he pulled it free, revealing it to be still in one piece.

In a playful manner, he patted Rigel’s head with the hand as thanks, who chuffed happily.

He’d leave finding a new ECHO eye for another day. For now, he needed his old limb back.

He sat down and put the arm and hand next to one another, trying to remember how the two connected to each other.

_Oh, of course! He just needed to connect the wires on the hand to here and here on the arm…_

As best he could with one hand, Rhys slowly turned the two pieces into one and looked at his handiwork with a content smile. Some wires he couldn’t quite fit into their necessary slots, but it wasn’t anything an extra pair of hands couldn’t fix.

Of course, right now it was barely anything, but with a bit of time and effort he’d have that arm back in no time.

Then, he leaned forward and his expression changed.

Unfortunately for him, without a mirror or assistance, he’d have no idea what he was doing with the wires that actually went _into_ his body, or if they were even going in the right places. He’d just have to wait until Emlyn got back.

Disappointed he couldn’t get right to work on fixing himself back up, Rhys got up from his chair walked back to the front door with Rigel beside him. It was probably about time he got some fresh air, even if he did have to stick close to the bunker.

Now also free of the bunker’s walls, Rigel began to bound away, only to suddenly stop a few feet from the entrance.

As Rhys began to wonder if he’d seen something that was danger to them both, the skag turned to face him.

He let out a weak shriek and pawed the ground, looking at Rhys and the forest beyond repeatedly.

_Was he waiting for some kind of command?_

When Rhys continued to stand there and do nothing, Rigel half-shrieked again.

_Maybe he wants to explore like Emlyn._

Slowly, Rhys raised his hand and shook it dismissively.

“Go on.” He said.

The moment the words were out of his mouth, Rigel practically leapt a foot in the air and ran off, leaving trails of dust in his wake. The bunker was just on the outskirts of the jellyfish jungle in a more open area, so _hopefully_ Rigel was safe from accidentally injuring himself or Rhys.

 _So much for not listening to what I tell him to do._ Rhys thought. Maybe Emlyn had just tried to trick him and she was actually watching from a safe distance to see if he’d actually try it. She could certainly be a tricky one to read sometimes.

Making sure not to stray too far, Rhys treated the jungle as the boundary he wasn’t allowed to cross. As long as he made sure to stick to this area, hopefully it meant he wouldn’t get yelled at by Emlyn for putting himself in danger.

From beyond the trees, he heard a loud bellow of Rigel calling to him.

Rhys froze, unable to tell if the skag was in distress or not. He'd never heard Rigel make that sound before. If he was indeed in pain, what on earth could _Rhys_ do to help? After everything that had happened, he no longer had a hold of his trusty stun baton and he was still one-armed and half-blind.

Taking a deep breath, he followed the sound of Rigel’s cries, making sure he’d be able to find his way back to the bunker.

Finally, he caught sight of a fairly small clearing with a deep chasm splitting said clearing in two. On the edge were obvious pawprints from the skag himself.

_Oh no._

_Oh no no no._

Being careful to not go careening over the edge, Rhys quickly moved over to it and peered over into the chasm below. He immediately went lightheaded but tried his damndest to focus on what was in front of him.

By the good grace of everything, He wasn’t met with the bloodied, twisted corpse of the skag, but instead of Rigel standing quite comfortably at the very bottom.

He let out a sigh of relief so loud he caught Rigel’s attention, who looked up at Rhys with a soft chirp.

Now that Rhys was aware of said chasm, Rigel carefully climbed back up the wall he’d used to descend into it, returning to his side. Happy Rigel had returned to him in one piece, Rhys started to walk back the way he’d come, hoping Rigel would follow. Thankfully, he did and the two were soon back in the safety of the bunker.

Rhys felt the adrenaline rush of possibly losing Rigel start to fade away and he sat back down in his chair with a heavy thump.

Whether he had the right to discipline Rigel was questionable, even if the skag had listened to his command, so all he could do was sit there and watch as Rigel sat down next to him. Having to tell Emlyn her skag had accidentally killed himself was something he’d obviously like to avoid above all else. He couldn’t even bear to think how Emlyn would react if he told her that, so for now he would choose to keep it to himself.

Eventually, Rigel caught on to Rhys’ mood and placed his head on Rhys’ lap, whining pitifully. Even if Rhys wasn’t as 'in tune' with the skag's mannerisms, it seemed clear to him that Rigel hadn’t meant to scare him and was trying to apologise.

Rhys rolled his eyes then patted the skag on his head.

“You sure love making me anxious, don’t you?” He asked, which made Rigel’s eyes light up slightly, trying to catch his words. “You’re lucky I’m keeping this between you and me, big guy.”

* * *

Emlyn returned when the sun was starting to set, clearly quite happy with herself.

“Only found week old signs of bandit activity, so I don’t think we’ll be getting any uninvited guests any time soon.” She announced, walking back through the greenhouse and to the bedroom with Rhys and Rigel close behind. “A few skags might have somehow found their way to this spot but,” She looked over to Rigel, “I doubt they’ll be much of a bother.”

“So we’ll be safe?” Rhys asked.

“Yep! There must have been a pretty fierce fight around here though. Found a lot of rocket launcher scorch marks, broken windows, destroyed tower, and apparently a heavy truck had been driving around pretty erratically. Seems the tracks went back on themselves, so they must have left when they got what they wanted.” She tilted her head at him. “Hyperion tell you anything about that?”

Rhys shook his head.

“Huh. Weird. Let’s hope they don’t come back for seconds.” She set her rifle down and then lay down on the bed, taking a deep breath.

This time Rhys sat opposite her and lay down also, leaning on his arm to face her.

“Something wrong?” He asked. Maybe it was just him, but she seemed less talkative than usual.

“Dude, I’m _tired._ This place is pretty damn big.”

“Well, uh, make sure not to fall asleep in your armour. It might not be very comfortable.”

“Oh, so you want me to strip now?”

 _God damn this_ woman _._

“N-no! You just… Might not get the sleep you need if you’re still geared up. And you said no one is around.”

“Oh come on, Rhys. You’re more than just ‘no one’.” She winked at him.

He breathed in sharply.

“I know, but…” He felt himself start to trail off when she stood up and started to take off her various layers, making Rhys quickly avert his eyes and try to focus on the ceiling instead. Soon she was back down to her black tank top and trousers, looking quite pleased with herself.

“There we go! Happy?” She said, sitting back down. Slowly, Rhys looked back over to her to meet her gaze. As per usual, she had a big grin on her face which he tried his best to ignore.

Eventually, he nodded.

“Good! Now, let’s get some rest while we can. We probably have a lot of work to do to fix you back up.”

She turned to Rigel, pointed to the switch and gave a sharp whistle. With care, the skag brought one paw to it and pressed down, plunging the room into darkness, save for the fading light from the greenhouse beyond.

However, Rhys couldn’t sleep just yet and as Emlyn went to lie down once more he turned to her.

“Emlyn?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s going to happen when I have my arm and eye back?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, what are _you_ going to do? Once I’m back to normal.”

There was a pause.

“Y’know, I hadn’t even thought that far yet. You got anyone you could meet back up with?”

Rhys’ thoughts wondered over to (what he hoped was) the remaining members of his group: Fiona, Sasha, Vaughn, and Gortys. It was doubtful he’d want to see the first two any time soon, of they even wanted to see him. They had fled Helios without him as the station started to rip itself apart. If only he hadn’t become so infatuated with the idea of being the big boss of Hyperion and Helios in turn, then maybe he could have told them to wait for him. Then again, would they have stayed if he _did_ say something? Or was he now nothing more than another pawn that Jack had been playing with for the entirety of his adventure. As if he could ever make sense of two people who lived on Pandora and spent their entire lives conning people for their own benefit. Yet, he didn’t know if it was right to be angry at them. He just felt more confused than anything else.

With Vaughn, the last time they’d seen each other was when he’d attacked Vallory for Rhys, urging him to go after Gortys and help her. No matter how much he’d begged and pleaded, no one would tell him anything about whether Vaughn was alive or not. Rhys had seen what Vallory was capable of firsthand. What if she’d killed him and left his body to rot? Had she perhaps deliberately hidden the truth from him because she knew it would drive him mad not knowing the answer about Vaughn’s fate?

Yet, if Emlyn’s words meant anything, he was nowhere to be seen in the biodome itself. Maybe he had escaped relatively unscathed, but where would he have gone?

Already he could feel a tight ball start to form in his throat over all this, so he tried to soothe himself by taking a deep breath and turned to face the wall, hoping that she hadn’t noticed his distress.

As for Gortys, she could be anywhere on the planet. Yes, he had seen a large beam of light in the distance before he passed out after dealing with Jack, but did that even have anything to do with her? Maybe it was her opening the vault Vallory had been after. Maybe it was his mind playing tricks on him as the pain and adrenaline started to take hold. It was just yet another frustrating mystery he didn’t have the energy to uncover.

At the end of the day, now more than ever, he really did have no one.

“…Not really.”

There was a longer pause.

“I could stay with you.” She finally said.

“You would?”

“Well, as long as I can before my camp needs me again, so they don’t start eating and attacking each other, but. Yeah. My Second-in-Command is tough, but there's only so much one person can do to keep an _entire_ group of bandits and psychos in order.”

Admittedly, he hadn’t expected that response. He’d thought Emlyn was going to just. Ditch him the moment they got to the station, but once more the genuine tone in her voice caught him off guard.

He couldn’t deny that he _did_ enjoy her company, even if she liked to playfully toy with him. Still, it was a thousand times better than her planning on torturing him or leaving him for dead the second the two met.

And, even if it was a selfish thought on his part, she was much softer towards him as well as more approachable than someone like Sasha. It was immensely doubtful he’d be able to get anywhere with her now that him having Jack in his head the entire time was a thing. And Fiona was definitely the last person he’d want to talk to if it came to taking things a step further.

Perhaps he’d just been around Fiona and Sasha too much if to him, despite all her effort to help him, Emlyn was giving off the same vibe.

Maybe he’d just have to sleep on it. Perhaps his mind had attached himself to Emlyn because it wanted a replacement of some kind. Someone he liked to think he knew and could trust now that he was on his own. Where exactly he would go with that he didn’t know, and her playful flirting didn’t exactly help his case of if he did wish to keep it on a friendship level because…

It was working.

“Hey, Rhys. Did you hear what I said?”

“Oh! Uh, sorry. Was lost in thought. I did, yes.”

“Got a lot on your mind?”

“Yeah.”

He heard Emlyn breathe out.

“Don’t we all?”

The two lay there in silence, Rhys listening to the gentle breathing of Rigel from the front of the room.

Finally, he spoke up.

“Well, I guess it’s time we went to sleep, so, uh, good night Emlyn.”

“Good night to you too, Rhys.”

He was glad the room was now near pitch black when she said that, because he couldn’t help but smile to himself with how sweet her words had been.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Nother chapter that reached posting time faster than expected. I guess that's just what happens when you also have a uni deadline to worry about. On the plus side, my backlog was able to add three new chapters to the fic in a fairly short amount of time, and now I can focus on part two finally! 
> 
> In this chapter, Rhys finally gets started on fixing himself up with a new arm, but not before waking up to see Emlyn being cheeky and sleeping next to him. Whoa there girl. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if some find the story fairly slow going at the start. I'm very much someone who is obsessed with building a relationship than just jumping in with no clear chemistry, so you know how it is. I'm actually so used to writing slow burns that for this one, I thought things were going by too quickly compared to my _Skyward Sword_ self fic, where my self insert takes a full _month_ to actually say anything lmao.
> 
> **As always, chapters can be read ahead of time via my Twitter (@/GoldieClaws) and my Tumblr if you ask nicely (@/goldenclawsandplatinumsouls). I'm currently inactive on Twitter bc uni work lmao, but Tumblr is my new home now like it was way back when.**

Being woken up by the slowly increasing light from the greenhouse, Rhys gradually became aware of something large and warm pressed up against him and across his body. Thinking that Rigel had somehow crawled up next to him and making sure he didn’t accidentally lash out a second time, Rhys looked over his shoulder.

However, it wasn’t the skag who was lying next to him at all, but Emlyn who was fast asleep.

Rhys' breath caught in his throat and his eyes widened in shock. Immediately, he felt his body snap awake and he realised that her arm was around his waist.

 _The hell was she doing_ here _in bed with_ him? Had something he’d said yesterday tempted her to _actually_ sleep next to him??

In an attempt to instinctively wiggle his way out of her grasp, he hit his head on the wall. The noise startled Rigel, who raised his head with a sharp grunt, and woke up Emlyn who sighed heavily.

“Rhysss…” she whined, “What did you do now?” she was still waking up herself as Rhys hissed softly to himself.

“Hit my head.”

Emlyn removed her arm from him to turn him over towards her so the two were face to face. As she placed a hand on his cheek to examine him, he felt his annoyance over her startling him start to fade. Judging by her expression she now seemed genuinely worried she’d accidentally hurt him.

“Let me guess: you didn’t expect to wake up with me next to you.”

“It was the _last_ thing I expected.”

She tutted and rolled her eyes.

“You were shivering.” She said matter-of-factly. “Guess that’s what you get for not going under the covers, huh? I didn’t want to disturb you, so I thought I’d just lie next to you to keep you warm.”

Rhys opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped himself.

“Well, good news. You’re not bleeding at least.” The soft look on her face darkened slightly, and she looked almost remorseful. “Sorry I scared you.”

“…It’s OK. Just, warn me next time.”

At that she smiled.

“Will do.”

She stood up and stretched before turning around to look at Rhys, as though this little incident hadn’t even happened in the first place.

“Aaanyway, want to start on your arm now?”

* * *

Rhys sat down at the table and Emlyn joined him as he started putting the wires into their respective piles.

“So, where do we start?”

“Well, we have everything we need,” Rhys started, slowly feeling his confidence slowly build as he quickly became accustomed to him being in his element once more, “We just have to add a few final wires to the arm and attach it to me.”

Emlyn nodded, then began to slowly unravel the bandages from his body. Despite what he’d been through since they’d been applied, they were much sturdier than they appeared and hadn’t torn once.

Once the bandages were free, she examined the socket.

“Might need a big clean up.” She said. “I doubt the wires will even go in, let alone work with this level of dried blood and dirt.”

With the aid of several medical boxes Emlyn found under the beds in the other room, she got to work on tidying him up once more.

“I got to admit, you’re lucky you didn’t get a serious infection from this.”

“I think if that happened, I’d have to sue Hyperion for not giving my body and the arm safeguards in case of emergencies.” Rhys joked, which made Emlyn laugh.

“You got a point there. Better to lose the arm than your life, huh?”

After nearly three boxes, Emlyn was finally satisfied that the two were now ready to start the operation.

With Rhys directing her to which wires to use, the arm was finally complete in its most basic form. She held it up proudly before him.

“Pretty basic for a cybernetic. Don’t you need, like, plating? To protect the wires?”

“That’s what that is for.” He pointed to the quick-change station. “As long as I have a skeleton, I can make my arm look however I want.”

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“So, neon colours are a possibility?”

“If I want to get shot at, yes.”

“Pfft, not whilst you’re with me, buddy.”

She grabbed a hold of one of the wire’s plugs and held it out for Rhys to look out.

“Do these have specific ports?”

Rhys nodded.

“That one,” he pointed at a white plug, “Should go in the top.” He moved his hand to aim at its respective port.

Putting a hand on his shoulder for support, Emlyn moved to connect the plug faster than he anticipated.

“Hold on!” Rhys said, leaning away and making her hand slip.

“What?” She held up both hands as though feigning surrender.

“You have to be careful about it! Especially since it might make me jolt as it reconnects to my body.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Of course I’ll be careful. You think I haven’t met and know of a few people who also have cybernetics? As long as the charge doesn’t make you leap a foot in the air and you knock me out, you’ll do fine.”

“I- I mean, I didn’t doubt you I just. Remember the first time I got my arm it somehow stung more than the operation.”

Emlyn tutted.

“Honestly.” She said quietly to herself then spoke up. “Better an arm than none.” She said to him, smiling softly.

Rhys breathed in sharply. Guess he couldn’t deny that.

This time he braced himself properly as she attached the three plugs to him, which was met with a surprising lack of random jolts or sharp pains as it connected itself to his nerves. At first, he thought the arm was useless and the wires long since dead, but with help from Emlyn he was able to start moving his fingers. It took him a moment or two to get his bearings on how to do any of that at first. Apparently nearly a week without an arm was enough for him to forget how to do even simplest task of tightening his hand into a fist.

Leaving him to check the arm’s motions, Emlyn stood up and walked over to the quick-change station.

“Want me to pick one out for you?”

“If you want.”

Pleased she’d been given free rein, Emlyn swiped through all the available options multiple times before finally setting on her favourite design: a red cybernetic with silver joints.

“What do you think of this?”

Rhys looked up from his fiddling with the arm to see the cybernetic in full view on the screen. He raised his eyebrows and nodded.

“Not bad.”

He joined her by the station, clicked through a few pop-up screens until he finally had the option to apply it.

Emlyn and Rigel watched in almost child-like wonder as it digistructed the plating over the arm’s skeleton in a matter of seconds. Rhys slowly lifted the arm and twisted it back and forth, admiring its colours and bright polish.

Eventually, he caught Emlyn staring.

“Something wrong?” he asked, feeling himself start to blush again.

She shook her head.

“Just never seen someone use one of these bad boys before. I knew they existed, but never that they were _that_ useful.” She laughed. “I really have been missing out.”

She looked over the quick-change station once more.

“Can you get clothes?”

“Yep!”

“Huh.” Then, she patted his back. “Maybe it’s about time you got yourself something new to wear.”

Somehow, the focus on reobtaining a new cybernetic had completely taken over Rhys’ mind, and the idea of a new suit to wear hadn’t even _crossed_ his mind.

Suddenly, the uncomfortable itchiness of wearing the same clothes for weeks on end and having them covered repeatedly in blood, dust, and saliva hit him all at once, and he cringed.

Plus, could he make it any more obvious he worked for Hyperion? A new look certainly wouldn’t hurt.

He moved to select something, then stopped.

He still had the folded-up Atlas deed and most important of all, his old ECHO eye in his pocket. What if he picked something that lacked those pockets, and they both dropped to the floor for Emlyn and Rigel to see? Would he even be able to talk his way out of it like he had before?

Emlyn made him jump when she waved a hand in front of his face.

“You alright?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah I. Just…” He could feel his brain scrambling for an excuse, yet it continued to draw a blank.

“You worried it’s going to make your clothes disappear?” Emlyn suddenly said with a devious grin. “Your problem perhaps, but not so much mine.”

“No, not that!” Now he was back to full-on blushing, which only helped to make her smile grow even wider. “I-I mean. Yes! These machines, uh, can be very temperamental sometimes.”

Emlyn shook her head at him.

“Alright, fine. I’ll wait in the other room and you can call me over when you’re done.”

She whistled to Rigel who followed behind her and the two disappeared back into the greenhouse and then into the bedroom. Confident they weren’t hiding around the corner to jump out at the worst possible time, Rhys darted over to the computer desks and opened one of the drawers. There, he placed the deed and eye for safekeeping.

Now that they were away from him, he returned to the station and picked out the first outfit he saw: a combination of black shirt, waistcoat, jacket and trousers.

As always, the digistruct process was quick and clean without fault and he happily adjusted the shirt’s collar as he admired himself in the station’s makeshift mirror.

A gentle snort startled him, and he turned to see Rigel watching him from the doorway.

He smiled at the skag in greeting, but that wasn’t what Rigel seemed interested in. He slowly walked around the table but kept his eyes on Rhys as he moved.

Eventually, the two were opposite one another. Rhys still standing by the quick-change station, and Rigel now by the drawer.

Rhys felt his body tense as Rigel turned to look at said drawer, then back to Rhys.

Rigel’s stare was mesmerising, now locking Rhys in a state of constant fear that he would soon have another problem he’d have to try to wiggle out of.

Emlyn’s voice broke the silence.

“You done yet, Rhys?”

“Yes!” He called back, tearing his eyes away from Rigel to look at Emlyn as she walked into the room.

Upon seeing his new outfit, she whistled.

“Well well well, look at you~” She purred, clearly impressed. “Didn’t know you of all people could pull off a suit like that.”

Rhys smiled at her comment.

“Guess there’s more to me than meets the eye.”

“No kidding.”

Emlyn then turned to Rigel, noticing his eyes were still on Rhys. She clicked her tongue at him.

“What’s wrong, Rigel? Jealous?”

Rhys turned back to face the skag, who hadn’t moved from his place over the drawer.

 _All he has to do is_ look _at that blasted thing, and she’ll know. Good luck trying to explain why you don’t want that eye anywhere near you,_ idiot.

Yet, instead of calling Emlyn over, Rigel opened his mouth and stretched, yawning loudly. Then, he moved away from the desk and walked to the bunker’s exit, looking over his shoulder to Rhys and Emlyn.

Emlyn walked over to Rigel gestured with her right hand, but he didn’t move. She did it again, yet still he didn’t budge. She put her hands on her hips.

“I thought you wanted out, you big baby.” She said, looking to Rhys with a ‘can you believe this?’ type of expression on his face.

Without a word and with Emlyn watching him, Rhys tried his luck and did the same gesture.

Rigel squealed happily and sprinted off into the forest as though he’d been shot from a cannon, throwing up enough dust clouds to make Rhys start coughing.

He looked over to Emlyn, who now stood there with mouth agape.

“…You’re shitting me.”

Immediately Rhys felt his nerves go on edge at her sudden tone shift.

“Sorry Emlyn, I just thought that since he listened to me earlier whilst you were gone he’d do it here as well and-”

“Whoa wait hold on.” She held up a hand to stop his blathering. “You mean he’s listened to you _before?_ ”

“Only one other time, but yes.”

She dropped her hands to her side and leaned sideways slightly, as though she were observing Rhys for the first time.

“I-is it a problem?” Rhys said quietly, worried he’d angered her somehow.

She stood up straight.

“No. It’s just… weird to me is all. Since I raised him and stuff.”

“Weird in what way?”

She looked from Rhys to the doorway.

“It means he trusts you.”

Rhys’ eyes widened.

“He does?”

“Well, he listened to your command over mine. Guess he wanted to show off that he thinks you’re actually an OK guy. That you’re not going to stab me in the back or anything.” She turned to face him. “It might not mean a lot to you, but it does to me, so.”

“No, I… I understand. Must be strange, if this is the only time it’s happened.”

“You could say that, yeah.”

She took a deep breath then rolled her shoulders.

“Don’t worry, by the way. I’m not upset. More amazed than anything else. He isn’t even like this with my own bandits.”

“Really? I’m honoured.”

At that she laughed.

“I’d hope so! Skags are tough bastards to train, but once they’re with you, they’ll stick by you for life.”

She sighed deeply and began to walk back to the bedroom with Rhys doing the same.

“Think I might have to sit down at some point and send out a distress call for my camp. Just so they can find me easily.”

Rhys blinked in surprise.

“I thought you said you were going to leave?”

She shrugged.

“Maybe. I kind of like it here. The company’s nice.”

Rhys blushed.

“I’m glad I don’t disappoint.”

“Never.”

Rhys stopped at the doorway into the room and watched as Emlyn shifted through her belongings to find her ECHO. As she clicked through it, he glanced over at the bed he’d fallen asleep on.

“…Emlyn?”

“What’s up?”

Rhys tried to stop himself, but it seemed that this time his filter was working against him once more.

“Would you mind if you slept next to me again?”

She turned around and raised an eyebrow at him as he quickly came to realise what he’d just said.

“I thought you didn’t like it.”

 _Oh boy._ Now he _had_ to finish this conversation somehow.

“Yes but, if it means you won’t startle me. I wouldn’t mind if you… wanted to do it tonight as well...” His voice trailed off on the last part and he wondered she’d heard any of it.

“So, I’m just an oversized blanket, am I?” she joked, tilting her head at him. “Maybe I should get paid for this.”

Then, she shrugged her shoulders again.

“If it helps you sleep and keeps you happy though, then OK!” She said this with a smile, which he happily returned.

“Yeah, that works for me.”

_And at least I don’t have to worry about you suddenly finding something suspicious in my pockets either._


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, time to tie this bad boy back into _Tales_ itself past featuring Rhys as one of the main characters.
> 
> This time, Rhys and Emlyn have a little chat about girlfriends and boyfriends, and Fiona (or should I really say, Loaderbot) leaves behind a little gift for the terrible trio.
> 
> ( **Mini edit from present me:** I completely forgot to update the fic on Friday because my boyfriend is over for a week and he distracted me. Blame him not me for the slow update lmao.)
> 
> **As always, chapters can be read ahead of time via my Twitter (@/GoldieClaws) and my Tumblr if you ask nicely (@/goldenclawsandplatinumsouls). I'm currently inactive on Twitter bc uni work lmao, but Tumblr is my new home now like it was way back when.**

Despite Emlyn and Rhys’ best efforts throughout the day, any type of wiring they could use for a new ECHO eye was nowhere to be seen, which clearly annoyed the former.

“You’d think that kind of technology would be in abundance.” She grumbled, dropping yet another useless box to the floor in a huff. “Damn Atlas, aren’t you pathetic.”

“I’m sure one will show up somewhere.” Rhys said. “We’ve only searched one bunker after all.” He’d been very careful to make sure she avoided searching through the drawers, doing so himself and claiming they were all empty once he’d made a show of looking through them and finding nothing.

Emlyn sighed.

“I guess? I’d rather get that eye to you before I’m forced to leave.” She sat down, clearly annoyed with her arms crossed.

Rhys stood still for a moment before finally speaking up.

“Would you like to go for a walk instead?”

She gave him a funny look.

“To clear the head, I mean.” He added.

She sighed again and stood up.

“I guess you have a point there.” She picked up her sniper rifle and put it on her shoulder, stopping only when she noticed Rhys looking at her somewhat confused. “What? Better to be safe than sorry, no matter how safe you think a place is.”

With Rigel staying behind to guard the bunker, Emlyn let him lead the way to the darker parts of the biodome where the forest now had the same blueish hue from when he’d first arrived. The jellyfish floated over them in their usual lazy manner and Rhys could see Emlyn was entranced by the patterns they were making as they kept walking. The two finally stopped in a large clearing and stood beside one another, watching as a fairly large group of jellyfish made their way across the sky.

Emlyn put her hands on her hips and let out a content sigh.

“You know, it’s moments like this that remind me that even if Pandora is  _ Pandora _ , it does have its nice moments.”

“Ha! Yeah. Certainly, more than Helios.” Rhys said with a smile.

The two stood in silence as they watched the world go by, but Rhys couldn’t stop himself from glancing over to Emlyn every now and again. Her looks of wonderment were so captivating to him, he hoped he wasn’t making himself obvious.

What was it about this woman being lit up by a subtle blue glow that got to him so? First the moonlight, now this.

Finally, he found his voice.

“You know, with the jellyfish floating by, the lighting and the trees, it’s very-”

“Romantic.”

Rhys did a doubletake.

“What?!”

“Romantic!” Emlyn said enthusiastically, looking over at him. “No screaming rakks or skags, just a gentle breeze, a whole lot of blue, and me getting to stand next to a pretty boy.”

“Oh. Uhh… Thank you… Emlyn.”

She chuckled softly to herself and look upwards once again.

“With a job like mine, you don’t really get to spend alone time with anyone.” She said. “And now that Helios has come crashing down, I doubt I’ll be able to rest for one moment when I go back home. I hope my gang isn’t freaking out  _ too  _ badly by it, but you know how psychos are.”

Rhys was quiet for a moment before speaking.

“Have you been with someone before?” He asked.

“Yeah, but it didn’t last. Women can be  _ sooo  _ temperamental, am I right?” She winked at Rhys.

“I suppose you’re right there. With some people.”

She leaned forward and tilted her head at him.

“You ever had a girlfriend? Or are those dashing good looks too much for the ladies to handle?”

Rhys laughed.

“I have, yes. When I was working for Hyperion. That one also didn’t last.”

“Hmm.” She stood upright once more. “Did you have your eye on anyone before everything went to shit?”

Rhys took a deep breath.

“…Kinda. But I doubt it would have gone anywhere with the way she viewed me.”

“Hot-cold kind?”

“You could say that.”

Emlyn made a face.

“Oof, I feel you there. My old girlfriend was like that to a T. How I put up with her for two years I’ll have no idea.”

“She did have her reasons.” Rhys said quickly, suddenly anxious he was dragging Sasha’s name through the mud. “We just didn’t mesh well. Might never will if she’s still alive.”

Emlyn’s expression softened.

“Was she tough?”

“Oh yes. Like,  _ Pandora  _ kinda tough _. _ ”

Emlyn breathed out slowly.

“Then I think she’ll be OK. Maybe you two could try and talk about your feelings. But hey, if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. You can wish for something as much as you want from the day you’re born to the day you die, but in a world like this that’s not how life works.”

“That was… Oddly poetic.”

“Heh. Maybe I should consider writing poetry one day.”

“I’d read it.” Rhys said quietly.

“You would?”

“Well, uh. If you asked me to. Everyone needs a proof-reader, right?”

Emlyn rolled her shoulders and looked thoughtful.

“Maybe I should see if I could talk to Zer0 if they ever had a moment to spare. Haikus have never been my strongest skill and I could use the practice. They’re probably busy doing their vault hunting shenanigans though.”

Then, Rhys saw that she’d adopted a very mischievous grin.

“You don’t happen to have eyes on me as well, do you?”

Rhys felt as though his body were about to crumble into dust at her question.

_ As if I’d answer  _ that  _ truthfully!  _ He thought.  _ Maybe I’m not even her type and all of her flirting is just her messing with me? Do I even dare risk making a fool of myself in front of her? _

“What if I did?” He said in return, trying to focus instead on the environment around him.

Emlyn feigned shock.

“You mean I’m not beautiful?”

“N-No! Of course, you’re beautiful I just mean-”

At that Emlyn started laughing, apparently taken aback by his reaction.

“I’m just messing with you, Rhys. I may like to playfully flirt with people, but I don’t do it with serious intentions.” She paused. “Unless you want me to.”

“No thank you, I’m fine as is.” Rhys said, more abruptly then he would have liked, but she seemed more amused than insulted at his comment.

“If this is you with women, I dread to think what you’d be like with men.”

“…Why?”

“Because often men don’t even catch on that you  _ are  _ flirting. Or, you get someone like yourself who literally collapses over one small comment. Wonder what would happen if there were two of you.”

Rhys laughed.

“Yeah, it would definitely be something.”

She crossed her arms.

“You know what’s funny? All this romance talk makes me think of a dumb joke I came up with with a friend. As much of a bastard Handsome Jack was, I bet he would have started fining people for being straight if he could.”

Rhys tried to stifle a laugh only to proceed to launch him into a coughing fit. Emlyn moved over to his side and patted his back until he stopped.

“Oof, sorry about that. Didn’t expect  _ that  _ response. You OK?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, no worries. You just caught me off guard is all.”

“Huh. Well, it wouldn’t be me without a few wild curveballs that leave people speechless!”

Finally, content with playing twenty questions and that Rhys wasn’t going to pass out on her, Emlyn turned around to return to the bunker.

Rhys ran after her so he could walk beside her.

“Maybe we should come back when it’s night-time. I bet those jellies will be even more active than before.”

“That sounds like a nice idea.” he said enthusiastically. “If only we had a movie to watch.”

“Yeah true. Maybe we could recreate our favourite scenes. I’d love to try and attempt a ridiculous western accent.”

“I mean, if we have nothing better to do, why not?”

“Maybe we could both see who can do a better impression of Jack.” Emlyn squared her shoulders and stuck her chest out, putting on a big, goofy smile. “I bet that would  _ really  _ make him start rolling in his grave.”

Once they were free of the forest however, the two were greeted by a growling Rigel who bounded over to them the moment he’d spotted them. He was clearly agitated, pressing himself against Emlyn as though trying to push her away.

In response, Emlyn unhooked her sniper rifle from her shoulder and her expression quickly darkened. Rhys moved behind her for cover.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, making sure he didn’t raise his voice above a whisper.

“Could be anything, but it sounds like an intruder.” Emlyn replied, checking that the rifle was ready to be fired at a moment’s notice.

She pushed her way past the skag who whined pitifully at her action, clearly anxious at his owner’s bullheadedness. However, he was quick to turn his attention to Rhys who was now without cover, nearly knocking Rhys over a few times with how forcibly the skag pressed himself against Rhys.

Emlyn was already waiting outside the bunker by the time Rigel and Rhys caught up, with the latter holding onto the former’s horns so he wouldn’t fall over. She was pointing the sniper rifle into the room, scoping the place out to check that no one was waiting in a secret corner so they could attack her. Eventually, she seemed to relax, but only lowered the gun slightly when she gestured to Rigel and Rhys to join her.

From where the three stood and with the sun still shining brightly in the sky, Rhys was able to see past the bunker’s doors and into the room beyond.

In the middle of table was a black box with a note stuck to the top. Next to it was, of all things, a moderately large computer chip that looked just small enough to fit into the box. Judging by how agitated Rigel was acting, it would have been easy to mistake it for a bomb. Everything else about the room however, the boxes, the computers, the wires, had all been left untouched. He hoped that the same could be said for his secret drawer.

_ Was it perhaps a radio of some kind? _ Rhys thought. If it was indeed a bomb, why would its original owner leave it there with the chip that supposedly powered it lying out in the open? And how on earth had they gotten into this place? The only people who could possibly know about the biodome was Vallory’s group and Rhys’ own. Was it maybe a parting gift from one of them? Had Vallory found his location and left him with some sort of ‘final farewell’?

Unsure of what he could say to Emlyn to stop her from advancing, he waited as she approached the object with the barrel of her gun now pointed straight at it. Eventually, she was close enough to read the note and looked at it, confused.

“What does it say?” Rhys asked.

“Use this to come find me, we need to talk. Fiona.”

Immediately Rhys felt his anxiousness over the situation leave him and he stood up properly.

“Fiona?”

“Yeah. You recognise the name?”

“I do, yes!” He walked over to stand next to her and get a proper look at this strange gift.

True to form, the note did indeed say what Emlyn had read out to him. And thankfully for Rhys, he was able to recognise the handwriting as Fiona’s as well, if a little bit wonky as though she had written it in a hurry.

He picked up the note to examine it closely and Emlyn did the same to the computer chip.

Rigel started whining and growling again, which made Emlyn turn around sharply.

“Oh hush!” She commanded, making the skag switch to a low chirp. She pointed to the greenhouse and whistled, ordering him to search the area just in case any unsavoury guests had snuck in behind their backs.

Still agitated, Rigel took a moment to move but eventually complied. Rhys was amazed at how quickly the skag’s demeanour changed from agitated, maybe even scared, to now calm and deadly. He stalked over to the doorway with intent, lowering his head and rounding the corner with a slow and steady gait. Whoever had the misfortune of crossing paths with him would certainly be in for a nasty surprise.

“Rhys.” Emlyn gently elbowed him. “Who’s this Fiona?”

“Work colleague.” He said quickly. “Guess she survived Helios crashing.”

“You sure this is her?” Emlyn pointed to the note.

Rhys nodded.

“Well if she knew you were here, why didn’t she wait for us to return? Even with Rigel guarding the fort, it’s obvious by the note she  _ knew  _ you were here.”

“Maybe she got scared off by him.”

“Doubtful.” Emlyn frowned. “Wild skags have a natural instinct to attack on sight. It’s how they survive and defeat competition, especially when attacking in groups. But I trained Rigel to hold back unless the opponent is an immediate threat.” She turned to Rhys. “Would she not have thought it odd he didn’t attack immediately?”

_ As a resident of Pandora, possibly.  _ Rhys thought. But she would have also been too used to a skag’s vicious tendencies to notice, perhaps. If it had been her, she would have likely only stopped by to drop off what was necessary and leave if she had seen Rigel, and judging by his reaction he had certainly seen her.

“Not really. Hyperion aren’t exactly ‘in tune’ with Pandoran wildlife.”

“Hmmm.” She picked up the black box which Rhys could see was indeed a radio or perhaps even a tracker of some kind. “Is she human?”

“Yes? What do you mean by that?” Rhys gave her a confused look.

Emlyn’s eyes flicked over to where Rigel had disappeared.

“Rigel is normally a tough one to aggravate. Even with the toughest, meanest looking bandits you’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting, he will still be able to keep a level head. The only time he acts that nervous is if the opponent is a robot.”

“But… Rigel is corrosive? That means he’s effective against metal and robots, right?”

“Yes,” Emlyn took the tracker in two hands and popped it open, “but he’s my saving grace against any potential bots. I left my camp not expecting us to visit Helios and find you, so my only corrosive go-to is him. He dies, and I have nothing effective to defend myself with.”

Rhys felt himself wince at the last comment.

“Isn’t he very tough, though?”

“Of course he is.” She said, clearly offended. “But if he is the only thing saving me from being shot to death by a bunch of loaderbots, he’s going to understandably be worried for my safety if he’s not by my side when the threat appears.”

“Oh, no I understand that, I only thought…” His voice trailed off when Emlyn’s expression didn’t change. “Sorry, Emlyn. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“You mean my skag.”

“Y-yes. Your skag.”

She sighed loudly and put the box and computer chip in front of Rhys.

“What does all this mean?”

Whatever Fiona had chosen to leave behind, it was of surprising quality. Had she stolen this technology off of Helios? From Vallory? Then again, the former was perhaps a little less deadly to steal from than the latter.

Still, the idea of her wanting to talk to Rhys and even see him again baffled him. Surely she  _ hated  _ him for everything that happened on Helios, especially because of Handsome Jack? There was no way she’d missed the announcements whilst they’d all been up there. Had she even  _ tried  _ to wait for him before leaving? Hell, did  _ he  _ even want to talk to her after everything that had gone down?

“Well,” Rhys started, trying to not let his thoughts about Fiona distract him from the task at hand, “This looks like a tracker. And this,” he pointed to the chip which had already been wired up, “Is what I’d use to actually track her with.”

“Why make us put it together and not do it herself?” Emlyn pouted.

“If you hadn’t seen the chip out in the open, would you have seen the note?” He asked.

“Not at first.”

“So, would you have shot at it?”

Emlyn paused.

“…Yes.” She said quietly. “Could have been a bomb and I’d rather not take risks.”

“Then we’d be at a loss, wouldn’t we? I doubt any technology we have on our hands already could fix this chip if we accidentally broke it.” Rhys said, hoping he didn’t sound  _ too  _ obnoxious with how right he was.

Emlyn sighed again and shrugged.

“You have a point, I guess.”

Rhys carefully picked up the chip and turned it around over the tracker’s case, trying to see at what angle it would fit inside.

“She knows I’m the techy kind of guy, so this will be nothing more than a fun challenge.” He said to Emlyn with a small smile.

Eventually, Emlyn relaxed and leaned against the table as Rhys got to work.

“What do we need?”

Rhys leaned in closer to the device. Thankfully, it was already provided with a battery, so those parts were covered. At a glance, all he needed was something he could use on any spare metal so that he could melt it to form a connection.

“Did you see any kind of handheld welding tool whilst looking through all the boxes?”

She thought for a moment.

“Think so, if I give everything a second look.”

Rhys looked at the computer chip then to Emlyn.

“Would you like me to show you how to make this tracker?” He asked. “Who knows, could be a skill you need later.”

Emlyn half-laughed at that.

“I’m not the best with technology.”

“I don’t mind teaching you if you want.”

She tilted her head at him.

“How much patience have you got for someone like me?”

“If it’s you, then I have all the time in the world.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually updating on Friday this time, so that's nice :>
> 
> For once, we start this chapter off on a serious note, Rhys tries to make the moves on Emlyn, and we finally get some action, but maybe not the type of action you were hoping for.
> 
> **As always, chapters can be read ahead of time via my Twitter (@/GoldieClaws) and my Tumblr if you ask nicely (@/goldenclawsandplatinumsouls). I'm currently inactive on Twitter bc uni work lmao, but Tumblr is my new home now like it was way back when.**

Before Emlyn woke up the next morning, Rhys had sneaked his way back into the computer room to ensure his old ECHO eye and the Atlas deed was still safe, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that same cybernetic and sheet of paper were staring back at him. For just a moment the eye’s gaze was comforting, but his mood quickly changed as he continued looking at it.

He slowly closed the drawer and sat down at the table, leaning back in his chair and staring up at the ceiling.

A small part of him still wondered why he’d chosen to keep the eye, to keep Jack alive, and not just crush his remains and cast him aside the moment Rhys had ripped the wires from his body.

_ Why not do it now? _ He asked himself. Why sit here in fear Emlyn will find the eye and question why he would start objecting to having it put back inside of him?

But no matter how often he asked himself that question, the answer never changed.

Rhys knew all too well that Handsome Jack had been a heartless, ruthless, violent dictator who murdered for fun and tortured all kinds of people, employees  _ or _ bandits, as though it were a hobby of his. Even his own AI proved that all too well. According to some, he’d been that way ever since he first began working for Hyperion as a programmer, only succeeding in worsening over time and adding more names to his seemingly never-ending list of people he’d killed. He was not someone you would call ‘trustworthy’ or ‘honourable’, no matter what Rhys had grown to believe before the string of events that had caused their ‘friendship’ to quickly crumble.

Yet, despite all this, Rhys had borne witness to Jack. The  _ real  _ Jack, in his last pitiful moments. Something Rhys believed not even Jack’s own family had ever seen. What  _ Rhys _ had seen hadn’t been the Handsome Jack he used to admire and strive to be. A man with a thirst for bloodshed and wishing to strike fear into the hearts of all those who tried to oppose him. A man who had succeeded in killing  _ Vault Hunters _ as though it were something he’d been doing his whole life.

The man that had been on his knees in the ruins of Helios had proven to them both that he too could feel as hopeless as any other person on this planet. Someone who knew he had no one else to turn to.

Jack had always seen himself as a god, the hero would become a legend for saving Pandora, Hyperion’s shining light in the face of adversary. But in the end Rhys had seen him for what he truly was:

A sad, lonely man who was far more human than he’d ever be willing to admit.

Rhys sighed deeply and put his head in his hands.

Was he being overly sympathetic for someone with so much cruelty in their heart? Perhaps, but still Rhys couldn’t find the strength to end Jack’s miserable existence right there and then.

Maybe somewhere in his mind, he thought death was too good for Jack. As long as the eye remained undamaged and untouched, Jack was stuck in an inescapable limbo. Rhys wondered if Jack was someone still sentient, barely able to understand where he was or what was happening to him. Would it give him time to reflect on his past actions? Would he even  _ do  _ such a thing?

At this rate, what was the point in wondering?

Once Rhys would, hopefully, become Atlas’ new owner with deed in hand, he’d ensure the eye remained trapped behind enough locks to make any man jealous. It was too risky to do anything with the eye until he knew what to expect if he allowed Jack to gain sentience on any level again. Perhaps it would just sit there, gathering dust like it was currently. Rhys certainly knew without having to think about it that a world without Jack was certainly much brighter than before.

“Rhys?”

He jumped when he heard Emlyn call his name and turned to see her standing in the doorway, leaning against the wall for support.

“You OK? You look troubled.”

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” He turned to look at the tracker that was still in the same place from yesterday. “I was just wondering what to do next with that.”

He stood up to move over to it, only for Emlyn to grab his arm in a gentle yet firm grip.

“You sure about that? Because if this,” she nodded to the tracker, “is bothering you more than you’re letting on, then I say we just leave it behind when my gang gets here.”

Rhys breathed in sharply.

He couldn’t deny that he was indeed intrigued by the stories Emlyn had told him about her camp and the many misadventures they’d gotten up to. It would be interesting to meet them all in person, but he knew all too well that would have to wait for another time.

Fiona had left this for him for a reason, and he needed to know why. She had the answers to his questions and vice versa. He needed to know what her side of the story was since this adventure of theirs originally started. Did she know where Vaughn was? Was Sasha OK? Had she been able to help Gortys escape her captors or had it all been for naught?

And even then, it wasn’t like he was made for the bandit life like Emlyn was. She might as well have had  _ the  _ perfect body and mind for Pandora, when all he wanted was the truth and then to make a beeline for the safety of Atlas as soon as he could. All this meant that he and Emlyn would have to part ways, no matter what direction he ended up taking. He’d tried his best not to think about their eventual separating because of their individual lifestyles and goals, but now it was starting to weigh down on him more than he would have liked.

Either the tracker would force them to part ways, or Emlyn’s approaching bandits would.

“Rhys.” Emlyn said again in a soft tone, bringing him back to the present. “Why do you even need to see this Fiona anyway?”

Rhys sighed. There was no point in lying now.

“The truth.” He said, pulling his arm free of her grip. “We… have a lot of history together. I think it’s about time we talked through it. Find out what exactly we mean to each other.”

Emlyn stood there quietly, taking in what he’d said.

“Why don’t we just… Wait for my gang to get here and we’ll take you to her? All we have to do is fix the tracker and we’ll be off before you know it.”

He cringed inwardly then shook his head.

“It’s a long story. And if it’s between us, I know it will get personal.”

Emlyn tilted her head.

“Like, romance-personal or-”

“N-no!” Rhys felt himself start to blush. “We’ve just been through  _ a lot _ together, both as… reluctant work colleagues and friends. And I need to know which one I am to her, and what she is to me.”

Emlyn straightened up and her face turned serious.

“Now, I know it isn’t my place to question you about your life or your relationship with this Fiona character, but I will say this.” She stepped forward and put a hand on Rhys’ shoulder. “If I find out she’s trying to lure you into a trap so she can hurt or kill you, I’ll make damn well sure she  _ never  _ forgets what she did to you. Even if she’s fortunate enough to escape me with her life, I will hunt her down until she’s on her last legs and break every single bone in her body before I finish her off by shoot her between the eyes.”

Rhys felt his eyes grow wide at Emlyn’s surprisingly violent and graphic words, feeling a strange mixture of terror and respect from it. If Emlyn had said that, he knew all too well by now that she  _ meant  _ it and would remain true to her word if things did indeed end in disaster for him.

“I… uh… appreciate that, Emlyn.” He stammered. “But even Fiona isn’t… _ THAT  _ bad.”

_ I hope. _

“Hyperion folks still don’t care about killing each other if it’s for fame or power.”

Rhys breathed in sharply.

“All she and I want is the truth.” He said as calmly and as confidently as he could. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

“And what happens when that’s all said and done?”

“Maybe we stay together and fix our companionship. Maybe we grow to hate each other more than before and we part ways. I honestly don’t know until we get there.”

“Where will you go from there? I hate to say it, Rhys, but we both know you’re not made for Pandora.”

“I know. But… I’m practical. So, I’ll think of something.”

What exactly that ‘something’ was was anyone’s guess. Without Emlyn he’d be without a vehicle or shelter. He could only hope that wherever Fiona was waiting for him, she could at least provide him protection and a roof over his head as they settled their differences with one another.

“Pandora isn’t your friend, Rhys. It’ll kill you the moment it has the chance.”

Rhys licked his lips.

“I  _ know. _ But I also know Fiona. If she wants to talk, she wouldn’t do it out in the open were we can be shot at or killed. She’s smarter than she looks.”

“Hmm.” Emlyn removed her hand. “Not like you can get info out of a corpse, anyway.”

She crossed her arms and looked over to the tracker again.

“You do know that if I didn’t have to worry about my camp, I’d go with you? And I don’t care if you did everything in your power to turn me away. Your various mishaps don’t necessarily inspire confidence.”

“I survived Hyperion, didn’t I?”

Emlyn paused then shook her head.

“Men…” She muttered under her breath. Then turned to face him properly. “Is it… OK if you leave the tracker for now? My bandits could be here any day now, and if you do truly have your mind set on meeting Fiona, then it looks like we won’t be able to enjoy each other’s company for much longer.” Her voice lowered slightly on the last sentence, as though she too were coming to terms with what was going to happen. “It would be nice if we could walk around the biodome together. Like yesterday.”

Rhys perked up and he nodded.

“Of course.”

* * *

As always, Emlyn had her sniper rifle slung over her shoulder as the two walked together. Still anxious over the previous day’s events, Rigel followed them from the rear, looking around and back and forth as though he expected Fiona to leap out suddenly from the bushes and attack him.

Now and then, Rhys found himself looking back at Rigel to see what he was up to.

“He will calm down after this, right?” He asked Emlyn.

“Yeah, of course! He’s just more anxious than he looks. When we get back I’ll make sure to give him a BIG hug if he’s still like this.”

As they continued along the path, they eventually climbed a small hill that happened to overlook almost all the biodome. The sky above, now a mixture of blues, browns, and whites, made the land around them stand out even more than before, as though a storm was sneaking its way up on them on the horizon. Beyond the various panes of broken glass was Pandora itself, and Rhys could feel himself becoming quickly entranced by the beauty of the hills and valleys beyond. Clouds of all shapes and sizes covered the land in shadows, to the point where everything felt almost dream-like to him.

He turned to say something to Emlyn but stopped when he noticed she too was gazing out into the great unknown. With the way she stood there, lips slightly parted and eyes full of wonder, it looked as though she were experiencing Pandora for the first time once again. If that was indeed how she felt, he didn’t want to ruin it for her.

Whilst she was distracted however, Rhys took a step closer to her as discreetly as he could, wanting to be near her during a moment like this. Slowly, his gaze fell on her hands which hung loosely by her side.

Was he  _ really  _ intending on reaching out to take her hand in his? Apparently so. He inched closer, holding his breath as he slowly outstretched his fingers towards her.

_ Be cool about it!  _ He told himself.  _ Not too forceful. Just calm and casual. If she objects just say you got caught up in the moment. _

Suddenly, the trio was interrupted by a loud beeping coming from Emlyn’s ECHO. With an annoyed growl, she unhooked it from her belt and looked at the screen, making Rhys pull his hand back and cross his arms, trying his best to act like he hadn’t been up to anything unusual.

“Such a mood killer.” Emlyn muttered, recognising the name of who was trying to call her. She answered, only to be met with a mix of loud static and barely comprehensible words from the caller.

“…M?...... ere…… ou?” Said a voice.

“Clips? That you?” Emlyn asked, holding the ECHO close to her ear to try and make out the words.

“…s…… Cau……si………………one……” They said again, only for the ECHO to start bleeping again as the line went dead.

“For God’s sake!” Emlyn smacked the side of the ECHO in annoyance. “Signal can’t go through because of all this foliage. I’m going to have to go back to the bunker and call them back.”

“That’s OK, I’ll wait here for you.” Rhys replied with a small smile, trying to hide his own feelings of annoyance at the interruption. Couldn’t they have called a few minutes later?

Emlyn rolled her eyes.

“Alright. I’ll try not to take too long. Keep Rigel close to you.”

“Will do.”

Still angry at her ECHO for ruining the moment, Emlyn continued to smack it as she stormed off, intent on returning as fast as she could.

Now alone with the skag atop the hill, Rhys looked over to Rigel and gently stroked him, making Rigel purr loudly and happily, content he had something to distract him from his paranoia.

Still, Rhys cursed softly to himself.

He should have been quicker in his actions! Grabbed her hand sooner! Said something! There was no way he’d be able to admit anything now that the moment had passed.

He breathed in deeply and looked around. From where he stood, he could see the tower Vallory had destroyed, one side of it still horrendously burnt from the rockets she’d fired. Now, he realised how lucky he was that he’d been able to survive such a vicious attack. Surely, that should have killed him. Then again, Vallory was certainly a woman who knew exactly what she was doing.

As he stood there and watched the world pass him by, a gap in the clouds allowed the sun to shine through, making something start to shine from below where Rhys was. Whatever it was, it was certainly unusual. A weapon or shield that had fallen from one of the speeding vehicles during the chase after Gortys perhaps?

Intrigued, he left Rigel’s side and began to descend towards the shining object. It lay hidden within the bushes’ leaves, barely visible save for the occasional blinding twinkle. Rhys bent over and picked it up.

The item in question was, of all things, a flask. It was surprisingly clean, save for a thin layer of dust that had accumulated on top of it, but it barely weighed anything. The owner must have finished his drink and either dropped it by accident or thrown it away, deeming it useless.

As he turned it over in his hand to examine it, Rhys caught sight of something else on the ground.

Footprints.

Slowly, he knelt down to look at them closely. They were clean, detailed, with the imprints of the clothing brand still present on the shoe’s heel.

Rhys felt his blood run cold.

They weren’t only footprints, they were  _ fresh _ footprints.

Rhys stood up with a start, knowing that Emlyn would need to hear about this as soon as possible. Someone had found the biodome and was now somewhere inside, possibly armed with their own fair share of weapons. What if they were waiting back at the bunker, waiting for Emlyn to return so they could attack her, kidnap her, or kill her?

He turned, ready to make a run for it, back up the hill and back to Rigel.

Only to be greeted by a rifle pointed directly at his chest.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nearly forgot to update today because life has been so busy on my end lmao.
> 
> Anyway, we now get my first proper action scene which is exciting! I made sure to make use of some old tips for writing these type of scenes so I’m glad I got a reason to practice with it :>
> 
> **As always, chapters can be read ahead of time via my Twitter (@/GoldieClaws) and my Tumblr if you ask nicely (@/goldenclawsandplatinumsouls). I'm currently inactive on Twitter bc uni work lmao, but Tumblr is my new home now like it was way back when.**

Rhys felt his mouth go dry and body stiffen at the sight of his assailant, who had now surrounded him with five other bandits, all their weapons aimed directly at him. Two of them were nomads, both wielding heavy-looking shields, whilst the rest were your average marauders with pistols and shotguns in hand.

The one who stood closest to Rhys and held the rifle to his chest also looked like a marauder, but his armour was thicker and more heavy-duty than his colleagues. Clearly, he was the leader of the group. He wiggled the rifle at Rhys, clearly amused at how afraid Rhys looked.

Were these men Emlyn’s? Or perhaps from another faction? Their colours did not match her own, they were too bright. And surely she would have told them about him so they knew he was friend, not foe. Right?

“Hands up, kid!” the leader commanded, which Rhys was quick to obey. This only helped make the group laugh amongst them. “What’s someone like you doing all the way out here, huh?”

Rhys struggled to find his words, looking around frantically for Rigel, who had completely vanished from sight.

_ Was he planning a sneak attack? Had he run to find Emlyn? _

“ _ Well _ ?” the leader snapped, but before Rhys could have a chance to reply, he was greeted by one of the marauders pistol-whipping him across the face and fell to his knees. This only helped make the men’s laughter become even more loud and obnoxious.

“Who would have thought  _ this _ guy had barely any fight in him?” commented one of the nomads, giving his colleague an amused look.

Lip now split and bleeding from the blow, Rhys tried desperately to think of a solution, an escape of some kind, only to be dragged to his feet by one of the pistol marauders.

“Think we could use him for anything?” Rhys’ captor said.

The leader shrugged.

“Target practice maybe.” he scoffed, looking around for anyone else they could take with them. With no-one else in sight however, it seems he had little patience to wait for someone else to show up and indicated for the group to leave to the safety of the trees.

Once in a secure clearing, Rhys was thrown to the ground and greeted once more by the leader’s rifle.

“You the only one around these parts? Or am I going to have to smoke your friends out?”

Trying his hardest to keep a straight face, Rhys sat up.

For now, his best strategy would be to stall for time. Make himself seem interesting enough or just blather a bunch of nonsense that wouldn’t lead to him being shot in cold blood before he could be rescued by Rigel or Emlyn.

“Well, they certainly won’t appreciate you manhandling me so much.” he said, keeping his voice as calm as possible so that he didn’t stutter, even if his high-pitched tone said otherwise.

One of the men looked like he was about to make a snide remark when the leader stopped him.

“And why’s that? You secretly made of gold or something?”

“I come from a wealthy background.”

Certainly not his  _ smartest _ comment by far, nor did Rhys even expect those words to come out of his mouth, but even he knew a bandit couldn’t say no to an opportunity to hold someone for ransom if it meant getting a giant wad of cash in return. The leader tilted his head.

“What planet?”

“Promethea.”

“Eridian Metroplex, then.”

“ _ Meridian _ Metroplex.”

“Oh yeah? What company?”

“Atlas.”

It was clear to Rhys he was trying to catch Rhys in a lie so that the group had an excuse to shoot him right there and then, if the fidgety nature of the other men was any indicator.

For a moment it seemed to be working, the men’s heads slowly filling with the idea of making easy money with little hassle as they talked amongst themselves. Ironically, the idea even calmed Rhys, knowing they couldn’t kill him immediately without creating proof of some kind that he was indeed their prisoner via photos or even a video showing his face. It was still enough time for him to be found, for him to be saved.

But then, the leader lowered the rifle.

“Don’t think I don’t know what game you’re playing at.” he started, which made the others stop talking. “You’re clearly smart, but you’re no ‘wealthy and important’ son of a millionaire.” He took a step forward, towering over Rhys. “If you were really wealthy, you wouldn’t be here on Pandora with no bodyguards.  _ Hell _ , you wouldn’t be here in the first place. And,” He pointed the rifle at where Rhys’ ECHO eye would have been, “No millionaire worth his salt would walk around missing important body parts. Maybe you’ll argue you got attacked, had your eye ripped out by a psycho screaming nonsense. But if that did really happen, you shouldn’t even be alive. Where’s the blood? The gore, huh?”

As the leader spoke, Rhys felt his composure start to slip, his plan already unravelling. He cursed to himself as the leader stood up to his full height, but what else  _ could  _ he have said? If he’d told them he was Hyperion, they would have shot him dead without thinking. Now, it seemed like it was once again inevitable.

This time, the leader motioned to his group, who all aimed their respective weapons at him. Rhys audibly gulped.

“Who are you really?” said the leader finally in a low, threatening tone, hand ready to drop to give his men the signal to shoot Rhys on sight.

Too frightened to think up a new excuse to wriggle his way out of this, Rhys’ response was automatic.

“I’m-” he began, only to be interrupted by the familiar sound of a sniper rifle firing.

Like a horrendous, powerful grenade, the heads of both nomads exploded, splattering the others in blood, brain matter and gore.

A single bullet had taken out both men, with almost everyone literally seeing it enter one head and exit the other as suddenly as it had appeared.

Before the bodies had even hit the ground, Rigel came charging from the trees. He aimed for one of the marauders, spearing the man through the stomach with ease. He screamed in pain, which quickly turned to a gurgle as he began to choke on his own blood.

Using the man’s still twitching body as a barrier, Rigel turned to strike the leader, but to Rhys’ horror he was already pulling the trigger on his gun, striking Rigel in the leg. Rigel stifled a shriek but collapsed as his leg gave out, rolling over himself with how fast he’d been moving before being shot.

With Rigel’s vulnerable stomach now in view, the leader went to shoot him a second time. Not daring to wait for what would happen next, Rhys got up and grabbed the leader’s rifle hand and yanking it down and away from Rigel. The gun accidentally fired into the ground, making Rhys’ ears ring and head shake.

With the leader now occupied, the remaining marauder attempted to attack Rigel as well, but already the skag was back on his feet, flinging the limp body at them. It was enough to disorientate the marauder, allowing Rigel to clamp his jaws down on their arm when they moved to instinctively cover their face, ripping it clean from its socket, covering Rigel’s face in the man’s blood.

Still struggling with his own opponent, Rhys tried repeatedly to rip the gun from the leader’s hand but to no avail. In anger, he backhanded Rhys and Rhys fell backwards, somehow staying on his feet.

Outraged, Rigel spun around and flung the bloody arm at the leader, momentarily distracting him. Then, Rigel charged again, putting himself between the two men and actively pushing the leader away from Rhys as he too tried to rip the rifle from the leader’s hands.

Now that Rigel had given him the chance to escape, Rhys gladly took the opportunity to flee for his life. He had no idea what direction he was going in, but he knew he had to get as far away as possible, sticking close to the trees for cover if he was pursued.

He  _ had  _ to find Emlyn, find the bunker and make it to safety.

As Rhys quickly began to run out of breath now that the rush of adrenaline was wearing off, he tripped over himself as he went to turn around and look back the way he’d come, nearly sending himself over the edge of that blasted chasm Rigel had spied earlier. Rhys flailed his arms but he found his balance, ripping himself away from looking over the edge before it could cause a rush of vertigo.

He looked around wildly, trying to make sense of his surroundings and remember which direction the bunker was in.

Now alone, if just for a moment, the realisation of what he’d just done immediately took hold, and those feelings of self-hatred and uselessness began to set in. Already he wished he’d picked up one of the guns and pointed it at the bastard to threaten him and force him to leave before he could even dare harm Rigel. But in his haste to run away he’d left the skag behind, who had still tried his damnedest to protect Rhys despite his obvious wounds.

But even then, what good would he have been? He didn’t know how to wield an actual gun. What if he shot nothing, or shot Rigel instead?

The silence was quickly broken when the sound of heavy footsteps interrupted him, making him tense up.

_ Was it Emlyn? _

He turned around and breathed a sigh of relief when he was greeted by Rigel, body and leg drenched in blood as well as walking with a clear limp.

Rhys greeted him with a smile and rushed to his side, gently placing a hand on the skag’s head as a minor means of comfort. However, Rigel was still agitated and gently pushed Rhys in the direction of what he assumed was the bunker, moving in front to lead the way. Although both tired and drained from this sudden encounter, they both knew they needed to move quickly. For all they knew, there could be more bandits lurking about that would require the aid of Emlyn’s reinforcements.

As the two reached the edge of the trees, a shot rang out, louder and harsher than the first that had killed the two nomads.

Instantly, this was followed by a scream from Rigel as the bullet ripped a hole through his mouth, covering the ground in a fresh layer or blood and saliva. The force and pain caused Rigel to collapse as he continued to wail in agony.

The leader had managed to follow them, now pointing the gun at Rhys. One side of his body and face was covered in acid, eating away at his armour and in some places, had already started on his flesh as well, rendering his left arm completely useless. It seemed he was more stubborn than most however, refusing to show any kind of weakness to Rhys now he had the upper hand.

Rhys went to move closer to Rigel, wanting nothing more than to comfort the skag as he began to whimper pitifully and twitch from the pain, but the leader responded by using up another bullet to shoot Rhys’ cybernetic arm, blowing the arm from the elbow downwards clean off. The force of the bullet made him stagger and fall over once again, which made his assailant laugh.

“Amazing. You can’t even stand upright for more than five minutes.” he sneered, but before he could fire again, Emlyn appeared from the brush in a sudden burst of leaves, branches and undeniable fury, wielding her sniper rifle like a club.

The leader  _ barely  _ had time to react as she swung the gun at him repeatedly, aiming to knock his head clean of his shoulders as she practically roared in outrage at him for daring to harm Rigel and Rhys.

She was still wearing her armour from before, as well as her mask. And judging by the leader’s reaction to her suddenly appearing, it was clear her attire had the same effect as when Rhys had first seen her: freezing all those around her with feelings of inescapable dread. Rhys could even feel himself instinctively crawling backwards with how much anger seemed to be emanating from her.

Yet, despite the abuse he’d had been put through, the leader was still fast on his feet and could see that Emlyn was somewhat encumbered by her sniper rifle as she swung at him, either too furious to hold it correctly and aim it at him or aware it would cost her precious seconds to even try to use it. He ripped a knife from his belt and as Emlyn moved to right herself, he sidestepped around her and buried it deep into her back.

Immediately she let out a pained gasp, followed by a cluster of swears as the leader pushed her down, and she came dangerously close to landing on the knife.

Despite this, she continued to try to get up, only to be repeatedly kicked in the face until she collapsed in a heap, her actions and the knife quickly draining her energy. One of the eyes of the mask had even cracked from the leader’s blows.

“ _ FUCKER! _ ” she screamed at him with enough venom to make Rhys wince.

The leader seemed unperturbed by her words, moving out of reach of her weak swipes and in turn, close to the chasm’s edge.

As he turned to face Rhys and finish him off for good and as Emlyn reached out one final time to try and stop him, Rhys’ eyes fell on Rigel.

In the shade of the trees where he had been lying, defeated and wounded, the skag had somehow brought himself to his feet, legs visibly shaking from the effort to hold himself upright. Neither Emlyn nor their attacker had noticed his efforts despite his still-present whimpers. Rigel’s head lolled to one side as he turned to look at Rhys, blood still pouring from his gaping wounds and for a single, oddly peaceful moment, their eyes met.

Maybe if Emlyn had been the one to meet his gaze, she would have been able to stop him. But all Rhys could see was a strong, confident resolve that he knew he wouldn’t have ever been able to break.

Of all the things Rigel could do, he seemed to briefly close his eyes contently at Rhys. Maybe it was out of fatigue, maybe it was a deliberate action, but there was something about it that stuck out to the latter. Was it a way of comforting him? Letting Rhys know that Rigel’s mind was made up? Really, he could only guess its true meaning.

Then, the spell was broken, and Rigel turned away and charged one final time.

As Rigel’s body moved to collide with the leader’s, time seemed to stop. Rhys and Emlyn stared in awe at the sight as the two stood before them in frozen suspension like a sick, twisted art piece. The leader was turning to face the skag, arm half-raised as he moved to point the gun at Rigel’s chest, hoping he had  _ just  _ enough time to pull the trigger and save himself. Rigel in turn was sailing through the air with claws outstretched and jaws open as far as they could go, throwing droplets of saliva and blood everywhere as he inched closer and closer to clamping his mouth down on the leader’s head.

The gun fired. The jaws closed. Blood erupted everywhere. And the two were sent flying over the edge of the cliff.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting closer and closer to the end of my current backlog, as well as part one once I get up to chapter 12. From there, I'll give the story a mini break as I build that backlog back up, as well as practicing my writing with two other stories of mine. I do have chapters prewritten for this story, I just have to knit them together, since I tend to write when the idea comes to mind so I don't forget it.
> 
> **If you'd like to see my writing ahead of time and before it's posted here, I recommend checking out my Tumblr: _goldenclawsandplatinumsouls_ to get to those exclusive posts :>**

The moment she had seen Rigel disappear into the chasm and that last bullet had burst out of his back, Emlyn felt her body go into shock, her eyes filling with tears before she could stop herself.

Despite the indescribable pain of the knife that was still in her, she dragged herself to her feet, only to collapse on the edge of the cliff, terrified and shaking over what she was going to see.

_ Please no. _ She thought to herself, over and over.  _ Not my Rigel. Not my sweet, darling boy. _

Whatever Rhys was saying to her, she couldn’t hear it. Instead, she could only focus on the bloody corpses that greeted her. Her breath caught in her throat.

Unlike the bandit leader, whose body bent at an awkward angle, his broken spine from landing on a sharp rock being the cause of his death, Rigel was oddly peaceful. He’d successfully ripped the man’s head from his shoulders in his final moments, which now sat a few feet away from him, glassy eyed and staring. But with Rigel, his eyes were closed, as though he’d simply fallen asleep on his side. Had he died before hitting the ground? Had the feeling of free fall soothed him, allowing him to seemingly pass on so contently? Or, had he known the fall would kill them both, and he’d accepted that fact far more willingly than his rival?

The world around her seemed to suddenly go still, as though it were freezing on this very moment as her one most daunting fear of all had been realised.

Rigel. Her most beloved companion and friend. The one she’d raised since her first few years on Pandora and had been by her side for 10 long years. The one she would hunt with, play with, sleep with. Was gone in just a matter of seconds.

She’d lost him forever.

Wanting so desperately to be beside him for just one moment more, she pulled herself closer to the edge, only for Rhys to grab her shoulder.

“Wait, Emlyn!” he gasped, trying to hold her back. “That fall will kill you.”

Already her vision was blurred as hot tears started to drip into the chasm. She moved one arm and hung it limply over the edge.

“I want to be with him. I want to be with my Rigel.” She said, unable to take her eyes off of him.

Rhys knew he couldn’t move her, but she felt him wrap an arm around her tightly, trying as he might to comfort her. Or, maybe he was just trying to hold her back from falling in after her pet.

How long the two lay there as she stared at Rigel, she had no idea. But it was enough time for Rhys and her to start hearing voices calling out for her.

It was faint, but gradually grew loud enough for words to be made out.

“Em?! Em, you there?!”

Emlyn coughed.

“Clips...” she mumbled, and Rhys took it as the sign to call back.

“HEY! Over here!”

Rhys kept shouting until the footsteps grew louder and the duo was finally met by Emlyn’s second-in-command: the aforementioned Clips.

Like Emlyn, they wore a mask that concealed their face. Judging by Rhys’ expression from what she could see, he couldn’t tell if it was a mask made to look like a bullymong’s skull, or was an  _ actual  _ bullymong skull. On their shoulders were two pauldrons and a cloak made of thick grey fur, making them appear much larger than they really were. Across their chest and reaching all the way around their back were two large leather ‘clips’, their namesake, filled to the brim with bullets.

They were joined by various other armed bandits, all wearing masks of multiple designs. Some had teeth, some had horns, but none seemed more ferocious than Emlyn’s own.

Upon seeing the blood that stained the ground and a wounded Emlyn with a knife in her back, Clips’ demeanour quickly changed.

“Ah  _ shit. Shit shit shit _ .” They said quickly, running to her side and placing a hand on her shoulder. “Em, what-” They interrupted themselves when they looked down and caught sight of Rigel’s body. Immediately they ripped their hand away and turned to Rhys, voice now low and strict.

“ _ The hell is this all about?! _ ” Clips didn’t try to grab him, but Emlyn could see the other bandits advancing on Rhys.

In response, Emlyn grabbed Clips.

“Not him. That’s… Rhys.”

At the mention of his name, the bandits relaxed, recognising him as friend, not foe.

Clips watched him for a moment, judging Rhys for what he was worth before finally turning all their attention back to Emlyn, indicating for a number of men to join them in helping her to her feet. As they did so, she started to protest and tried to shake them off.

“Not me… not me...” she repeated, only for Clips to put their arms around her.

“I’ll focus on Rigel’s body. Let some of us take you back to the bunker. We need to get this knife out as soon as possible.”

However, she continued to protest, this time turning to look at Rhys.

“He comes too...” She said, and Clips nodded.

“OK, Em.” They turned to Rhys. “You’re wanted, Rhys! Better get going.”

Being supported on both sides by her bandits, Emlyn started the slow, painful trek back towards the bunker. Now and then she was greeted by sharp jolts that nearly made her collapse in their arms, but thankfully they kept her upright for the whole journey. She’d occasionally turn to look at Rhys who followed at a safe distance, clearly wanting to do something to help but not knowing where to start.

“Hand...” she said, pointing at his now ruined cybernetic. He looked at it as though viewing it for the first time in a long while.

“Oh, uh, that. I’m sure there’s a replacement somewhere around here.”

“And… if not?”

“Then I’ll make a makeshift arm.”

She laughed bitterly at that, not really knowing why. They continued to walk in silence until she spoke up again.

“You OK…?”

He smiled nervously.

“I doubt that matters right now. You’re the one I should be worried about.”

“But… are you?”

Her comment made him pause and the smile dropped. He looked away.

“It’s not every day you get shot at...” He murmured.

“Unless… you’re me...”

He exhaled sharply, the shock of everything that had happened still present on his face. She hoped that she’d at least get a moment to comfort him before her injuries forced her to leave.

Suddenly, a loose stone made her foot slip, making her gasp and start to cry as she came dangerously close to falling over. The two men tried to gently bring her upright, but she deliberately went limp.

“Put… me down.” She said, and reluctantly they did so.

Rhys was by her side almost instantly, eyes full of worry. Not knowing what to do, he brought his face close to hers and leaned over her so that she didn’t need to raise her voice.

“Do you need something, Emlyn? I can run ahead and get it for you-”

“No!” she interrupted, then softened her expression. “I just want you near me.”

He seemed taken aback by her request, as though he’d never expected her to say something like that. He looked up at the bandits then back to her. Then, he moved up closer to her and tried to hug her as best he could with one arm. In response, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. Already she could feel fresh tears start to form in her eyes and she wondered if Rhys felt the same way.

Truthfully, there was no way he could replace her beloved Rigel, they both knew that, but this entire ordeal made her realise she could have lost more than just one person who meant something to her.

No sooner had that thought formed, she interrupted herself.

But, she’d only known Rhys for a week at most? How could he have had such a strong effect on her after such a short period of time? As she lay there, she held him as closely and dearly as a loved one, not even dreaming of letting go. The closest she’d ever gotten to something like this was with a friend or romantic partner of some kind.

She could feel her breath catch slightly in her throat as the realisation quickly sunk in.

Did she… love him? Like,  _ actually  _ love him?

Before she could do anything with that thought however, the duo’s moment was ruined by Clips’ sudden appearance. The two bandits stood to attention as though caught in some kind of vile act. Emlyn let go of Rhys and he sat up.

“What the hell are you three doing?! Emlyn should be with the rest of the group, not on the ground bleeding out!”

Emlyn tried to say something to calm them, but she knew what Clips was like when they got worked up.

“Move!” They commanded Rhys, but when they went to grab him, Emlyn stopped them with her own ferocious grip, practically crushing their arm with as much force as she could muster and meeting their gaze with a fierce look.

“Be nice. Rigel wouldn’t like you... being mean to him.”

At the mention of her skag’s name, Clips immediately softened and the two bandits looked at each other.

They all knew that Rigel liking anyone other than the select few in Emlyn’s camp, until now, was _unheard_ _of_. In any other instance, Clips would perhaps think Emlyn delirious or had hit her head to make such a bold statement. But this time it made them pause.

“Rigel likes…- Liked him?” They nodded at Rhys.

“He’d listen to Rhys too...”

The eyes under the mask widened and they gave Rhys an odd look, who shrank slightly under the astounded gazes of the three people watching him.

“Fucking hell.” Clips finally said. “That’s… quite an honour.” They turned to Rhys properly. “You know that, right?”

Rhys nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes, of course.” He responded.

Not knowing what else to say, Clips in turn nodded dumbly, then gently put Emlyn’s arm over their shoulder to help her back up. One of the bandits also moved to help and gradually, they got her back on her own two feet, Clips moved up close to support her.

“Just a little more walking, Em. Then you’ll be ready to go before it’s night time.”

“Rigel...”

“We’ll get him, Emlyn, I promise. I told the men to use one of the tarps to lift him up and out. He’ll be too heavy for one man.”

“Don’t leave without him...”

“I would never dare dream of it. But please, let me tend to you first. He wouldn’t be happy if I let you die, would he?”

Eventually, they were back at their home base, now surrounded by at least fifteen, maybe sixteen gigantic trucks that made Emlyn’s look minuscule by comparison. Upon seeing their leader, the bandits and psychos immediately stopped talking and stood to attention.

A group of tinks that stood on the top of a truck in the centre started hitting the metal roof with wrenches, making a bandit appear with a package of some kind, the crowd parting to let him through.

Rhys audibly gulped at how many people there were, which made Clips laugh.

“You never seen a bandit camp before?”

“I tend to stick to just one psycho. Or preferably none.”

Emlyn watched as Rhys’ pace quickened, clearly desperate to escape the many number of eyes that was already studying his every move. She couldn’t deny she was fortunate enough to have camp members so loyal, they wouldn’t act out of line if she were present, no matter her current state.

She was certainly amazed at how organised they looked too. After all, this was the first time they’d ever had to rescue her, so it seemed they’d come more than prepared. Admittedly, the idea of her men being so neat and orderly made her laugh.

“Told Rhys… my camp would start throwing punches… at each other… without me.”

Clips chuffed.

“C’mon now, Em. Surely you trust me to keep things in order when you’re gone?”

“Still… a bandit.”

“And always will be. But at least I’m not as wild as the rest huh? Think you beat that out of me.”

She raised an eyebrow at them.

“But... the  _ whole  _ camp?”

“I was worried!” Clips said defensively. “You just said our guys would attack each other if left unsupervised. Imagine what would have happened then if I left with just one car worth of bandits. But, we will have to hurry. Next thing you know our territory and literal camp with all our supplies belongs to someone else.”

She rolled her eyes at them.

“Overreact... much…?”

Slowly, they helped her into the bunker’s first room and onto her knees near the table so she could use it for support.

As she got into position, something caught Clips’ attention when all the bandits turned to look at something else.

“What is it…?”

“I think they have Rigel’s body.”

Immediately she tried to stand up, but Clips forced her back down.

“I want to see him!” She protested, voice cracking.

“Not in this state, Em.” Clips said, trying to speak calmly. “But when we’ve gotten back to camp, given his body a clean and stitched him up, then you can see him.”

“Don’t-!” She started to choke on her tears, now even more of mess than before. “Don’t bury him without me.”

“I  _ won’t _ , Emlyn. I swear to you. If I as much even thought of that, you have permission to bury me alive first.”

Clips held her as she began to sob, watching as Rigel was carefully carried through the crowd and placed in the back of one of the trucks. Once he was safely inside, a number of bandits with heavy machinery joined him, ready to defend Rigel to the death if need be.

She eventually ripped her gaze away, not being able to watch another second.

Emlyn got back onto her knees and watched as the new bandit with the package began to unravel it. She recognised the contents instantly.

It was a med patch, specially made for knife and bullet wounds. It was a temporary fix for such a major problem, but it would at least allow her move around somewhat more easily without having to worry about the knife catching on something and being ripped from her body. Thank goodness Clips knew how to apply them. Any other person would have probably ripped the knife out long before the med patch was even available, making death by blood loss inevitable.

“Rhys?” at this point her voice was so weak she wondered if she’d even heard him, but almost instantly he moved closer, clearly worried over what was about to happen. He’d let her bandits take control until now, wanting to at least see if there was  _ something  _ he could do for her.

“What is it, Emlyn?”

“Can you… hold my hand...?”

He paused for a moment, then gently reached down and took her hand in his, holding it close to his chest in a tight embrace. She could feel a small smile appear when he did so. Bracing herself, she let her other hand drop, giving Clips the signal to remove the knife.

“OK, let’s get this over and done with.” Clips said, grabbing the knife with a firm grip and nodding to the other bandit who was holding the patch.

With a grunt of effort, Clips pulled the knife out, blood splatters staining their clothes and mask. Emlyn stifled a whimper upon its removal, clenching her jaw as the patch was quickly applied. Clips threw the knife away and helped pat the patch down before the flow of blood could remove it.

Emlyn could already feel herself start to shake uncontrollably and perhaps in any other situation she would be embarrassed or ashamed by this, but the feeling of Clips’ firm hands against her back and Rhys moving against her so he could hold her ever closer was far too comforting to ignore. Even if things were to suddenly go wrong, where the patch stopped working or she died slowly from internal bleeding, she was happy knowing she had them both beside her at this moment.

After a few agonising minutes, Clips finally spoke up, confident she wouldn’t be at risk of bleeding out.

“OK Em, time to take you home.”

They gestured for the other bandits to join them and Emlyn was only vaguely aware of the multiple hands grabbing a hold of her, lifting her up and carrying her to the truck. She hated how her hand seemed to slip from Rhys’ own so easily, making her weakly grasp at thin air.

“Gotta make this quick boys!” Clips barked. “These med patches only last so long.”

With great care, the group placed her on her side in the back of a different truck atop various coats the bandits had put down as a makeshift bed for her.

Now, she was too tired to talk, let alone open her mouth to make any kind of noise. But the idea of leaving without saying a proper goodbye to Rhys was making her more emotional than expected.

Clips crouched over her, fully prepared to stay by her side for the entire journey and was about to give the order for the men to move out, when Rhys suddenly piped up.

“Hold on!”

Clips turned to him, somewhat annoyed.

“What? We have to  _ go,  _ Rhysie boy. I can’t wait for you to pack your bags.”

“I want to say goodbye.” Emlyn heard him run up to the truck and try to climb in.

“You’re… not coming with?”

“No. I already spoke about this with Emlyn and it’s been decided. I have to stay. She has her plans and I have mine.”

“...Yeah, I think she told me...”

“Then,” Rhys tried to get a hold of the truck’s sides, but was unsuccessful, “can you at least help me up?”

Clips muttered something under their breath, then grabbed Rhys’ arm and pulled him up.

“Make it quick then. I’m sure neither of us want her to die out here.”

At this point Emlyn’s eyes were now half-closed and she could feel herself starting to drift off as Rhys shuffled up beside her.

If she could, she would have sat up and hugged him once more, told him she was going to be OK. Clips knew what they were doing, They’d done this many times before on knife and bullet victims worse than her. She wanted Rhys to know she was in safe hands, that she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Yet, instead, all she could do was lie there, weakened and pitiful.

He gently brushed her hair to one side, clearly holding himself back from acting further. But then, after a moment of hesitation, made up his mind and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

Who knows what he wanted to say then to her, or if he could even think of anything to say at all. In such a short amount of time, that was perhaps the best he could do.

As he kissed her and then stood up to remove himself from the truck, she wondered in her tired state what he was thinking. Was he suddenly going to turn around and decide to stay with her, abandoning his own goals in his quest to find this Fiona? It was selfish of her to think, yes, but she wished he’d done exactly that. Decided that Fiona wasn’t worth it and stuck with her instead. Maybe she should have made her love for his company more apparent, how she enjoyed how polite he was, how sweet he was.

But, alas, it was too late to ask if he wanted to stay now. Everything seemed to be going by faster than she could comprehend.

The words that Rhys and Clips then exchanged soon became muffled to Emlyn, lost forever in a restless sleep that was slowly pulling her in. She didn’t want to wait until she was next awake to hear what they had said to one another, she wanted to know now.

But, before she knew it, the world around her had gone dark and she had fallen fast asleep.

* * *

Her thoughts soon left Rhys and her dreams were instead filled with memories of herself and a young Rigel, dancing about on the dusty plains of Pandora with the sun slowly sinking in the sky. She still remembered how beautiful that evening had been with its long, dark shadows and purple and orange sky. The two of them had spent almost an hour chasing their shadows and one another, yipping and yelling with each bound. The air was warm, with only small slivers of clouds in the sky. She still remembered how big a smile she’d had then, laughing at Rigel when he kept chasing after the shadows of Rakks overhead, whining pitifully when his frantic sprinting was proven to be in vain.

Yet, such a sweet thought already began to leave a bitter taste in her mouth as she slept.

That carefree life of her’s, the one she’d shared with him, was never going to come back. Those sunsets will soon lose their charm, those colours their vibrance.

Despite Clips and the many bandits and psychos that surrounded her.

That had come to save her.

That had put their life on the line for her.

She’d never felt so alone.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally part one was going to end on chapter 11 before continuing on to part two, but a friend recommended I add this chapter so that the audience are aware of Rhys' feelings and thoughts over everything that had happened in chapter 10 and 11 before I move into the timeskip that starts part two. So, here we are. Certainly one of my shortest chapters that goes against the usual 2k+ word count the other chapters had, but hey, it's whatever.
> 
> Now, onto a hiatus for about 3 weeks or so, so i can build up my backlog once more and knit together my current chapters.
> 
> **As always, future chapters can be read ahead of posting via my Tumblr: goldenclawsandplatinumsouls, and any updates on this fic's status will be found there as well : >**

Now alone with just his thoughts and an eerily silent bunker, Rhys could do nothing but sit at the table and stare blankly at the tracker Fiona had left for him.

Before the bandits had driven off with a wounded Emlyn and Rigel’s body, Clips had told a number of trucks to stay behind momentarily, so they could provide him with various supplies. Multiple tins of food, water, blankets and weapons sat atop every available surface. They’d even been kind enough to give him a number of cybernetics they weren’t using, including a new ECHO eye that he could  _ finally  _ use to let him see properly again. Clips had even promised they’d tell a few of their bandits and psychos to make a number of rounds around the biodome to check for any other rival bandits that could be lurking around.

Now on his own, he at least knew the Quick-Change station had a mirror, allowing him to fix himself back up without needing an extra pair of hands.

Yet, despite being able to live comfortably at least for now and without the threat of being suddenly attacked like before, Rhys could still feel his skin crawl from the events prior.

The bandits who had attacked him could have apparently been a faction connected to Vallory, either part of her camp or simply hired hands, hence why they’d been able to find the place so easily. Rhys hadn’t dared acknowledge Vallory’s name when Clips mentioned it, unless he wanted to be blamed for what had happened to Rigel. He didn’t want Emlyn to think he’d caused the death of someone so dear to her.

However, that thought still weighed heavy on his mind and was already threatening to overwhelm him.

If he hadn’t been such a coward and run away, he could have shot the leader before he in turn could shoot Rigel. He would have saved Emlyn years of heartache, and she could have enjoyed her skag’s company for a few more years to come. There would be no need for a funeral or many sleepless nights, wondering why the world felt suddenly so much more empty.

He slammed his fist down on the table in frustration, feeling himself start to choke and eyes start to water.

If he hadn’t been such a godforsaken  _ fucking  _ coward, Rigel would be sitting comfortably alongside Emlyn, gently nuzzling her as she slept and as his own wounds were tended to. Not lying there, dead and bloody, in the back of a cold, metal coffin.

Rigel had stuck his neck out for Rhys more times than he’d anticipated. Even keeping  _ Jack _ secret from Emlyn despite being aware of his old eye’s existence. Rigel may not have known what was so special about the eye, but he still knew there was something about it that gave Rhys good reason to hide it.

Rhys felt his stomach turn when he realised he could never pay that all back. Not now, not ever.

What had that skag been thinking before he died? Had he been angry over how pathetic Rhys was? Saving his ass only because Emlyn had shown a fondness for him? Did he even attack the bandit  _ for  _ Rhys, or was it because the man had been a threat and danger to Emlyn herself?

Rhys winced.

No. It was nothing to do with him. Why on earth would Rigel want to protect someone like him over Emlyn, his own owner?

But then again,  _ why  _ had Rigel looked at him with such a… soft expression before he jumped? Was it perhaps a message of some kind he’d wanted Rhys to pass on to Emlyn? It would mean nothing now. He had no way of communicating with the camp once they’d left.

Rhys wiped his eyes with his sleeve and walked around all the equipment and supplies, staring out into the trees and brush beyond. He stood there for a moment, still struggling to cope with the growing sense of loneliness and solitude.

He’d turned down any offers for the bandits to stay with him despite all this, fearful of the idea that meeting Fiona and having her talk to him would quickly shatter all the little white lies he’d been feeding Emlyn from the start. If she were to die of her wounds, he didn’t want her going to her grave feeling betrayed, cheated, or used. It was an awful thought, certainly, but to lose one person and be lied to by another was too sickening a thought to be burdened with.

He breathed out slowly, trying to keep his composure.

Yet, still, his thoughts returned to Emlyn before she’d been carried off away from him.

If he hadn’t been surrounded by bandits, if the two of them had been alone, then maybe, just maybe he could have found the nerve to say something like ‘I love you’ to her as well as a proper goodbye. But even then, that would have been too cruel, not when the two would be forced to part ways and maybe never see one another again. He’d have to hold onto those words either until they crossed paths once more, or keep them close to him until his last days.

He should have shown more appreciation for her company, the way she talked, the way she treated him. The image of her bathed in moonlight still hung there in his mind’s eye, as clear and blue as the first time he’d seen her then.

He knew without a doubt he would miss her terribly. His very own ‘knight in shining armour’.

Maybe if he got Atlas up and running again, he’d have the opportunity to look for her and her camp properly and his worries about if she were alive or not could be sated. She was certainly a tough woman and the idea of a knife taking her down seemed almost impossible.

...

Almost.

Rhys shook his head to clear his thoughts, rubbed his eyes again and returned to the table.

He needed to stop overthinking all this and get going. If he truly wanted to see her again, he needed to start somewhere. And now was the perfect time to do so.

He took a deep breath and picked up the ECHO eye that stood out amongst the rest with its bright golden iris. Compared to his old eye, this one was warm and inviting, a perfect replacement.

_ Time to get to work. _


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, back into adding to this beast again huh? My mind is being stubborn so getting back into writing this fic is being a bit rough, so if I lapse out of my usual 'update every Friday' it will be because of that. I'm hoping I'll get that vibe back in time! My _Skyward Sword_ self fic has just been demanding my attention recently and I can't so no to my oldest special interest.
> 
> Also! We finally get to see more canon characters thank goodness. I've really been looking forward to that part so here's hoping that vibe sticks.
> 
> **Big Disclaimer once again:** Chapter 13 onwards is what I consider Part 2. And in Part 2 I do discuss the illness Cancer and how it is affecting the person who is ill as well as the people around them. If that upsets you then you can stick to Part 1 instead (chapters 1-12), but if you wish to continue reading then please keep this warning in mind.

Rhys leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples as the device in front of him started beeping furiously again, which only helped to worsen his headache. At this rate, he was amazed his patience hadn’t been worn thin long ago and he’d admitted defeat by throwing it at a nearby wall in anger.

Now sick to death of its incessant beeping, he turned off its power and leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling of his office.

It had been three long years now since he, Fiona, and the rest of the group had helped Gortys take down the Traveller and loot the Vault that had appeared for all it was worth. Sometimes, he still couldn’t believe that he’d played a part in any of it and that it had just been a wild fantasy he’d dreamt up. But then again, what mattered most to him wasn’t the fame and riches from their exploits, it was knowing that everyone was still alive and well. Loaderbot’s ‘trick’ to getting him and Fiona to open up about their respective stories was certainly  _ something,  _ but he couldn’t deny it had been for the best. Now everyone was safe and well, and that’s what he truly cared about.

He made sure to stay in contact with Fiona, Sasha, and Vaughn as they continued to live their lives on Pandora (with the former two currently on Promethea admiring the sights), even if he did prefer the less deadly life of a CEO and admiring the world from the safety of his office. As for Loaderbot and Gortys, they’d both chosen to follow Rhys to Promethea to help him rebuild Atlas. And to their credit, his seemingly impossible mission of returning Atlas to its former glory had indeed been a success.

Granted, there had been a few mishaps along the way which made the process of fixing Altas longer than expected. Buildings required major repairs, the streets of Meridian needed repaving, and all they had to work with in terms of robots were either service bots or med bots. Any other robot that could wield a gun had to be destroyed and repurposed, seeing anyone other than their own kind as the enemy. However, there was enough chips from the gun-wielding bots to allow Rhys to reprogram the other bots. He’d need a new shipment of parts to  _ make  _ some robots when the current ones ran out, but he could at least sit comfortably for now.

At least at the end of the day, he  _ finally  _ had a hold of a constant supply of testosterone to keep him going as well. He likely would have completely forgotten about it considering his new, busy lifestyle if he hadn’t become so temperamental and moody with the occasional, unavoidable voice crack. His short-lived time on Pandora hadn’t helped either, especially since during that time he hadn’t brought any backup supplies and would have been far too busy avoiding getting killed by bandits, Vallory, or Jack to even use it. Thank goodness he didn’t have to wait in line for the whole day just to get a single shot nowadays. But it wasn’t like medical care was something Hyperion excelled at anyway. Maybe  _ one day _ he’d be able to apply the needle himself, but the fear of his cybernetic suddenly gaining a life of its own still bothered him, even if he was completely free of Jack’s influence. Certainly didn’t help the nightmares either.

Plus, needles  _ kind _ of freaked him out.

Probably one of his best achievements however, had to be how he’d even been fortunate enough to befriend  _ Zer0  _ of all people, a Vault Hunter he admired greatly and to the point their first ever meeting had been him spouting a bunch of fanboyish nonsense. He could still remember how shocked he’d been when Zer0 offered their services to him, pledging themselves to him and Atlas as his bodyguard and even personal assassin.

Not that he liked to regularly make use of the  _ second  _ skill, mind you.

Admittedly, life was peaceful (save for devices like this one that  _ refused  _ to work) and Rhys had gradually grown more and more confident in his abilities as a leader for his men. The company was thriving.  _ Atlas _ was thriving.

However, in the past few months, his thoughts had started to wander. He’d been working on project after project to distract himself, but they all ended up half-finished and discarded no matter his efforts. He’d even tried spending time with Loaderbot and Gortys to see how they were both doing, but even then he wasn’t all there.

Despite those three years, Emlyn still continued to cross his mind. He’d been so busy fixing all the wrongs Altas had been through, he hadn’t had the opportunity until recently to try and gather information about her and her camp. Zer0 had been kind enough to do some digging and to see if they could find out anything about her. Right now, what she was doing or where she was was irrelevant. All he wanted to know was if she was OK. If she was even  _ alive. _

Yet, according to Zer0, that was easier said than done. No matter where they looked, the camp was a tricky one to pinpoint, potentially being the type that was constantly on the move. Rhys didn’t know how true that was exactly, but with nothing else to go off of, he would just have to sit there and wait until Zer0 could find something worthwhile.

And, to boot, that wasn’t the only thing on his mind.

Recently, a thresher of  _ all things _ had been sighted near Vaughn’s camp, preventing Rhys from sending in any kind of aid to the camp until the beast was taken care of. Apparently, Vaughn had posted HELP WANTED posters to every surface he could find, but since then Rhys hadn’t heard much else from him. Supposedly, the thresher was at least a safe distance away from the camp for now and as long as they didn’t try to annoy or aggravate it, the thresher remained docile. Any kind of airship or truck seemed out of the question however, unless the driver wanted to be devoured whole alongside their vehicle of choice.

Rhys breathed in deeply, then slowly let it back out.

_ No point in worrying.  _ He thought to himself. _ You’ll just succeed in making yourself even more stressed than you are currently. _

He leaned over slightly and opened the bottom right drawer of his desk. As always, that blue ECHO eye was there to greet him, seemingly waiting patiently to see what he would do.

Carefully, he picked it up and placed it down in front of him, staring at it as blankly as it did him.

That unsettling, creeping feeling the eye had had eventually fizzled out over those few years, with Rhys now choosing to keep it as a grim reminder of his past mistakes for deeming it wise to trust someone as monstrous and violent as Handsome Jack, regardless of his thoughts towards the man in his final moments.

Perhaps it was about time he moved it to somewhere else, somewhere he knew for sure it would be safe. It was a tricky thing to let go of, the soul of a ferocious dictator residing inside that could potentially murder everyone on the planet if put into the wrong hands notwithstanding, but it was about time he made the decision to remove it from his life. Maybe not forever, maybe just a few months or another three years, but knowing that Jack was stuck behind one hundred locks and doors was a much safer option than letting him sit in a single drawer that could be easily raided. It was something he’d promised to the others after all.

He got up out of his chair and started walking towards the lift, grabbing his jacket along the way. Would it be wise to take Jack to the treasury? A place that practically demanded it be looted? Or would it be more wise to have him kept in something less extravagant, like a factory? He would be near machinery that if misused, could serve to function as a new body for him. But then again, no one but human beings would have use for something as small and insignificant as an old ECHO eye that was likely out of date by now.

As he rode the lift down, he decided he would make a move towards the factory. After all, it did have what Rhys needed: large, heavy doors and enough locks to turn away even the most advanced hacker. There was even a laboratory on the inside, which would keep Jack even further away from any drones or robots.

Once outside, he was greeted with a rush of warm, evening air, and he smiled happily to himself. The heat on Promethea was welcoming, nowhere near as stifling and close as Pandora. He’d be sure to take his time as he walked before he returned to his apartment, wanting to make sure he could let this moment of peace soak in.

As he made his way to his destination, he heard a familiar whir of energy from behind him.

“Rhys.”

He turned around and immediately jumped when he noticed who had been following him.

“Ah! Zer0!” He exclaimed, instinctively raising his hands to protect his face. No matter how many times this happened, the sudden appearance of the assassin always surprised him.

“Apologies, Rhys./I have new information/of this lady: Em.”

Immediately Rhys changed his tune and his eyes widened.

“Emlyn?”

“The very same.”

Zer0 clicked a button on their ECHO and a folder materialised in their hand. They held it out to Rhys, who happily took it.

“What did you find?” he asked, looking through the pages and carefully reading everything present.

“She is helping camps/with problems they can’t handle./Quite noble of her.”

“She’s… doing so personally?”

“Yes.”

His breath caught in his throat.

_ Oh,  _ thank god _. She was still here, she was still  _ alive.

Until now, he’d started to reluctantly accept the fact that Emlyn had indeed died from her injuries, no matter how strong he knew her to be, but without an official confirmation he’d still been forever hopeful she was still out there, no matter what anyone said to him. Some nights he’d found himself staring up at the ceiling, watching as the light faded in the same it had from the greenhouse in the bunker, and when he turned his head he could still see her there beside him, gazing at him with soft eyes and a gentle smile as the two spoke to one another long into the night.

Rhys tried to stay calm as he looked from the folder to Zer0.

“Do you… think she might end up near Vaughn’s camp? To help take out the thresher, I mean.”

Zer0 seemed thoughtful.

“It’s possible, yes./The pay would be useful for/herself and her camp.”

“Has this been going on for a while, or is it fairly recent?”

“Recent.”

Rhys breathed in sharply at this news.

Even though Zer0 had been able to reach her grandmother and uncle who still lived on Elpis from the information Rhys had given them, claiming that they wanted to know of her whereabouts so that Rhys could thank her personally for saving his life, they had heard nothing from her either. They hadn’t seemed too worked up about it though, claiming that she had her skag and camp to look after her and that ‘she was an adult, not a child who needed checking up on every five minutes’. Rhys didn’t have the heart to tell them about what had happened to Rigel and just told Zer0 that they should contact him if they came across any new information.

Still, did she have a reason for making a sudden appearance from out of nowhere? What had she been doing in those three years? Was she OK? Was she safe? She wasn’t being chased, was she?

Already all these questions were filling his head faster than he anticipated. He had so much to ask her, but most of all he just wanted to  _ see  _ her. Would they even recognise one another after all this time if they met face-to-face? Would that option even be possible at this point?

“Any idea why she’s showing her face again?”

At that, Zer0 seemed oddly silent.

Rhys gave them a look.

“Well?” he asked, trying to probe Zer0 for answers, hoping he didn’t sound too direct.

“She is saving up money for her camp.”

At that, Rhys laughed.

“You say that like it’s not normal to save money! Maybe she’s saving up for a new weapon, or just wants to prepare for any mishaps.”

“Exactly.”

Something in Zer0’s tone made Rhys’ smile drop. They seemed almost reluctant to speak further.

“What do you mean by that?”

Before Zer0 could say another word, the two were interrupted by heavy footfall and loud yelling.

“Rhys! RHYS!!” It was Gortys, chasing after him as fast as her little wheel could carry her, with Loaderbot following close behind with a fast jog. Eventually, the two caught up to Rhys and Zer0.

“Hi.”

“Uh, hi.” Rhys said, returning the robots’ polite waves. “You guys OK? You seem to be in a rush.”

“Oh, we are!” started Gortys, “Fiona sent us to get you. She told us to tell you that she and Sasha are heading back to Pandora tomorrow! Apparently you three were going to have dinner before they left.”

“That was tonight?” Rhys nearly dropped the folder out of surprise.

“Yes. I think it would be best you make your way to them now if you wish to avoid a confrontation of some kind.” Loaderbot replied.

“I’m sure it won’t be  _ that  _ bad!” Gortys said in an attempt to reassure Rhys, who was already starting to regret forgetting something so important. “Just as long as you get there before 7!”

“What time’s it now?”

“6:49pm exactly.” Loaderbot said.

“Oh shit.” Rhys muttered under his breath, then turned to Zer0. “Can I keep this folder, so I can read through it properly?”

Zer0 nodded.

“Of course.”

“And-” Rhys said quickly before Zer0 could disappear as suddenly as they’d appeared. “Could you please take this to the robot factory,” he held out the ECHO eye, “and make sure it stays undamaged and goes in a safe place? Preferably with a number of codes and locks.”

“As you wish.”

With care, Zer0 took the eye and put it in one of their suit’s pockets, safe from harm.

Now free for the rest of the evening, Rhys turned to the robots with a smile.

“OK, lead the way!”


End file.
